Citizens
For Legitimate Government™is a multi-partisan
activist group established to expose and resist US imperialism, corpora-terrorism,
and the New World Order.

March
2010 Archives, Page Two

Discharged
soldiers sue for millions over Anthrax experiment --As part of the
lawsuit the soldiers are demanding that the state reveal the ingredients
of the serum that was given to them.
28 Mar 2010 Sixty-four former IDF soldiers are suing the Defense Ministry
for NIS
18 million ($4.8 million) over what they claim is damage caused to them
during Anthrax vaccine experiments in the early 1990s. The experiments,
which were meant to determine the efficacy of an Anthrax vaccine, were
carried out in light of what was then defined at the time as the "strategic
threat of a surprise biological attack facing Israel." In the lawsuit,
the plaintiffs cited an Israel Medical Association (IMA) report according
to which the experiments were unjustifiable. The report revealed that
even while the experiment was taking place Israel already had a stock
of vaccines.

Obama
appoints new chief for war court at Guantanamo
--MacDonald repeatedly testified at Congress as bullish backer of tribunal
system 25
Mar 2010 In the clearest sign yet that the Obama administration is re-energizing
tribunals for captives at a Guantanamo it wants closed, the Pentagon this
week installed a retired three-star admiral with national security and
international law experience to run the war court. Retired Vice Adm. Bruce
MacDonald replaces Susan Crawford as the war court gatekeeper or Convening
Authority for Military Commissions. MacDonald's last job in the military
was as the Navy's top lawyer.

Ex-Prisoner
Unveils Abuse in Bagram 01 Mar 2010 An Afghan national, recently
released from the US army jails in Bagram Air Base, said that Muslim prisoners
are brutally mistreated by the US forces at the base. Speaking to FNA
in Kabul on Monday, Muallem Farouq described conditions in the Bagram
jails as "indescribable", and added that during his 6-month term in Bagram,
he was fed on leftovers and pork (which is banned food in the religion
of Islam). He added that they forced him to stand still barefooted on
snow.

Russia
blasts US over Afghan drug scheme
28 Mar 2010 Russia accuses the United States
of conspiring with Afghanistan's drug producers by refusing to eradicate
opium plantations in the country. US marines, stationed in
the opium-growing Helmand province since February, told the villagers
that they do not intend to cut the production, the Russian Foreign Ministry
said Sunday.

British
forces to withdraw from Helmand under new US plan for Afghanistan
--British forces are to be withdrawn from Helmand and replaced by United
States Marines under controversial new plans being drawn up by American
commanders. 28 Mar 2010 The proposal, which would have to be approved
by a new British government, is facing stiff resistance. Whitehall officials
fear that a pull-out from Helmand, where nearly 250 British troops have
been killed since 2006, would be portrayed as an admission of defeat.
Under the plans, British forces would hand over their remaining bases
in Helmand to the US Marines as early as this year.

Obama
makes unannounced trip to Afghanistan --The trip, kept secret until
Obama was on the ground, was his first to the country as president. He
meets with Afghan leader Hamid Karzai to discuss government corruption,
benchmarks of progress [aka how well the opium continues to flow, and
how many more billion$
can go to the child rapists of DynCorp to 'rebuild' the infrastructure
that the US destroyed.]
28 Mar 2010 President Obama flew into Afghanistan's capital Sunday on
an unannounced visit, his first trip as president to a country where tens
of thousands of new U.S. troops are being deployed this year. Obama last
visited the country in 2008 as a presidential candidate. Previous attempts
to visit Kabul during his presidency were cancelled because of weather
problems, according to White House officials. [See: DynCorp
Disgrace By Kelly Patricia O'Meara 14 Jan 2002 "Middle-aged
men having sex with 12- to 15-year-olds was too much for Ben
Johnston, a hulking 6-foot-5-inch Texan, and more than a year ago he blew
the whistle on his employer, DynCorp, a U.S. contracting company doing
business in Bosnia (and getting billion$ from Obama for 'work' in Afghanistan).]

U.S.
Troop Deaths Double in Afghanistan --57 Were Killed in Action in First
3 Months of 2010, Twice That of Previous Year; Injuries More Than Triple
27 Mar 2010 The number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan has roughly
doubled in the first three months of 2010 compared to the same period
last year. Those deaths have been accompanied by a dramatic spike in the
number of wounded, with injuries more than tripling in the first two months
of the year and trending in the same direction based on the latest available
data for March.

Grenade
kills UK soldier in Afghanistan 27 Mar 2010 A grenade has claimed
the life of another British soldier in southern Afghanistan as the number
of casualties for foreign forces continues to mount. The soldier from
the Household Cavalry Regiment was on foot patrol near Sangin in Helmand
Province, when the grenade was lobbed at him on Friday afternoon, the
British Ministry of Defense said.

Roadside
bombs in Afghanistan take 11 civilian lives 28 Mar 2010 A series
of bomb explosions in Afghanistan has left eleven civilians, including
five children, dead. The children were killed in a roadside bomb blast
in western Herat province on Saturday, Afghan Interior Ministry confirmed.
The ministry also reported the loss of six civilian lives in two similar
blasts in south of the country.

No
assent given to US drone attacks: Pakistan 27 Mar 2010 Pakistani
Interior Minister Rehman Malik says the US drone attacks in the tribal
areas along the border with Afghanistan are carried out without the consent
of Islamabad. Speaking to reporters outside the Lahore High Court on Friday,
Malik said the controversial issue of US drone attacks was to be raised
with Washington during bilateral talks.

Iraq
unable to deal with numerous mass graves --84
mass graves discovered last year all held victims of post-Saddam [US]
violence
27 Mar 2010 A senior Iraqi official says Baghdad does not have the means
and expertise to deal with the high numbers of mass graves discovered.
Ayam Sharif, head of the Department of Terror and Victims at the Ministry
of Human Rights, said that 84 mass graves were discovered in the country
last year and all of them held victims of post-Saddam violence.

Iraq
politician targeted in attack 28 Mar 2010 At least six people
have been killed and 15 others wounded in an attack on a local politician
in the town of Qaim, in Iraq's Anbar province, officials say. Four roadside
bombs exploded in quick succession on Sunday near the house of Ghanim
Radh, a member of the Development and Reforms Movement, a faction of Iyad
Allawi's secular coalition.

Judge
permits trial in KBR convoy case 25 Mar 2010 A federal judge has
ruled most of the lawsuits claiming Houston-based KBR should have stopped
a deadly 2004 truck convoy in Iraq can move toward trial, but a May 24
trial date is off to allow KBR time to file an appeal. The case centers
on April 2004 attacks on a convoy of supply trucks KBR ran in Iraq, during
which six civilian truck drivers were killed and 14 wounded. The drivers
caught in the ambush were delivering fuel under KBR's multibillion-dollar
contract to transport supplies... for American troops in the Middle East.

US
'may not veto UN resolution on Jerusalem' 28 Mar 2010 The US is
considering abstaining from a possible UN Security Council resolution
against Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem, sources suggest to the
BBC. The possibility surfaced at talks in Paris last week between a senior
US official and Qatar's foreign minister. The official said the US would
"seriously consider abstaining" if the issue of Israeli settlements was
put to the vote, a diplomat told the BBC.

Israeli
bill favors ex-soldiers as diplomats
28 Mar 2010 The Israeli cabinet is to vote on a new proposal by Israel's
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, which states that ex-soldiers should
be favored for diplomatic posts. Tel Aviv will discuss the new bill on
Sunday, which calls for giving preference to those who have served in
the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and volunteered in the national service
when selecting candidates for foreign ministry's posts.

Israel
imposes nine-day blockade on West Bank 29 Mar 2010 Israel imposes
a 9-day full blockade of the occupied West Bank starting Sunday night,
ostensibly as a security measure for the Jewish Passover festival. The
lockdown, on the orders of the Israeli War Minister Ehud Barak, will prevent
thousands of Palestinian workers based in the West Bank from reaching
their places of work.

Israeli
forces leave Gaza 28 Mar 2010 Israeli forces have pulled out of
the Gaza Strip after two days of fighting. Tanks left the area after Israeli
forces began the fiercest gun battle since the Gaza War ended 14 months
ago.

Israeli
tanks roll into Gaza 27 Mar 2010 Israeli tanks and bulldozers
rolled into Gaza Friday while navy ships began firing along the Gaza coast.
Tension has been high all week following the deaths of four Palestinian
youths. The youths were accused by the Israeli army of throwing stones
at them.

French
protesters mark 'No Sarkozy Day' 27 Mar 2010 Thousands of anti-government
protesters have taken to streets across France to mark a "No Sarkozy Day."
The demonstration, which started at the French capital's Place de la Republique,
was organized through social networking Internet websites such as Facebook,
rather than an official body.

Athens
bomb blast kills one and badly injures two
--Target of bomb not immediately clear
29 Mar 2010 A teenage boy was killed and his mother and younger sister
wounded in a bomb blast in Athens last night, police said. The 15-year-old
Afghan boy died after stumbling on a bag in a rubbish bin containing the
bomb. The
blast also injured his 10-year-old sister and their mother, according
to the civil protection ministry. The bomb exploded outside the headquarters
of the Hellenic Management Association, a private not-for-profit organisation,
a police spokesman said. It was not clear whether this was the intended
target, he added.

Seven
arrested in FBI raids linked to Christian militia group
28 Mar 2010 At least seven people, including some from Michigan, have
been arrested in raids by a FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force in Michigan,
Ohio and Indiana as part of an investigation into an Adrian-based Christian
militia group, a person familiar with the matter said. The suspects are
expected to make an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Detroit
on Monday. On Sunday, a source close to the investigation in Washington,
D.C. confirmed that FBI agents were conducting activities in Washtenaw
and Lenawee counties over the weekend in connection to Hutaree, a Christian
militia group.

Massive
Federal Raid in Lenawee County 28 Mar 2010 The FBI, the Department
of Homeland Security and the Joint Terrorism Task Force are all involved
in raids around Adrian that may be connected to a religious militia group.
The FBI conducted multiple raids throughout Saturday and into Sunday,
with one of them centered on a property where known members of a militia
live.

Congressman
Spit On By Tea Party Protester 28 Mar 2010 Last weekend, as the
House of Representatives gathered to debate health care reform while Tea
Partiers protested outside the Capitol, word emerged that Rep. Emanuel
Cleaver (D-Mo.) had been spit on by one of the demonstrators. Cleaver
released a statement confirming the incident, but some questioned his
claims. Fox News personality Sean Hannity asked if there was any evidence
proving that it had actually happened, and Tea Party groups offered a
cash reward for proof. (Video)

Sarah
Palin in pornographic portrait shock --Sarah Palin is portrayed using
hardcore pornography by the artist Jonathan Yeo, the son of a former Conservative
minister. 27
Mar 2010 Jonathan Yeo, the son of former Tory minister Tim Yeo, tells
Mandrake that he is currently making a picture of the American Republican
using cuttings from hardcore pornographic magazines. "I think she's fair
game because it's the Republicans who are, basically, responsible for
------- up the world," he claimed at a party in Belgravia, London. Yeo,
who previously made a similarly controversial picture of George W Bush,
said the work would go on display as part of an exhibition of his work
in Los Angeles this summer. [And, when such portraits emerge, will
CLG will link to them? You betcha!]

Republican
elite in disarray after David Frum is sacked by think-tank 27
Mar 2010 America’s conservatives were in open disarray yesterday after
the abrupt sacking of a leading Republican for daring to blame his party
for "the most crushing legislative defeat since the 1960s".
David Frum, who coined the phrase "Axis of Evil" when he was
a speechwriter for President [sic] Bush, was fired by the American Enterprise
Institute (AEI) after posting a column on his website that called healthcare
reform a disaster for Republicans and blamed it squarely on their own
refusal to compromise with the Obama Administration.

Court
rules Seattle police OK to Taser pregnant woman 28 Mar 2010 Three
Seattle police officers were justified when they used a stun gun on a
pregnant mother who refused to sign a traffic ticket, a federal appeals
court ruled Friday in a case that prompted an incredulous dissent. Malaika
Brooks was driving her son to Seattle's African American Academy in 2004
when she was stopped for doing 32 mph in a school zone. She insisted it
was the car in front of her that was speeding, and refused to sign the
ticket because she thought she'd be admitting guilt.

Obama
issues 15 recess appointments --George W. Bush had made 15 recess
appointments by this point in his presidency [sic].
27 Mar 2010 President Obama issued 15 recess appointments on Saturday,
including two picks for the deadlocked National Labor Relations Board.
The picks can only serve through the end of the next Congressional session,
meaning the 15 appointed on Saturday will serve through the end of 2011
unless they earn Senate confirmation. In a statement, Obama said the Senate
has a responsibility to give up or down votes to his nominees.

2nd
pick for transportation security chief is out 27 Mar 2010 President
Barack Obama's second nominee for transportation security chief withdrew
from consideration Friday because of questions over his background as
a defense contractor. Retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert Harding took himself
out of the running as head of the Transportation Security Administration,
another setback for Obama after his first choice withdrew in January because
he faced a tough confirmation struggle in Congress rightwing nutjobs,
so he surrendered.

'Consultants'
getting $722M from city for doomed CityTime computer project 26
Mar 2010 The city is paying some 230 "consultants" an average salary of
$400,000 a year for a computer project that is seven years behind schedule
and vastly over budget. The payments continue despite Mayor Bloomberg's
admission the computerized timekeeping and payroll system - called CityTime
- is "a disaster." Eleven CityTime consultants
rake in more than $600,000 annually, with three of them making
as much as $676,000, city records obtained under a Freedom of Information
request show.

Desert
Hills Bank shut down by federal regulators 26 Mar 2010 Desert
Hills Bank, one of the largest banks headquartered in Arizona, was shut
down by banking regulators Friday. New York Community Bank assumed all
Desert Hills' deposits, which remain federally insured. Desert Hills'
six branches will reopen on Monday as branches of New York Community Bank,
which last year took over the Arizona branches of Ohio-based Amtrust Bank
when it went under.

'Health'
bill restores $250 million in abstinence-education funds
28 Mar 2010 A little-noticed provision of the health legislation
insurance cartel giveaway has rescued federal support for a controversial
form of sex education: teaching youths to remain virgins until marriage.
The bill restores $250 million over five years for states to sponsor programs
aimed at preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases by focusing
exclusively on encouraging children and adolescents to avoid sex. The
funding provides at least a partial reprieve for the approach, which faced
losing all federal support under President Obama's first two budgets.
[Thanks, Obusha! Where is all the 'change' that you promised?]

First
A/H1N1 flu case detected in Chile's earthquake devastated zone
27 Mar 2010 The Chilean Health Ministry reported on Friday the first case
of A/H1N1 influenza in the most devastated zones by the earthquake on
Feb. 27. The ministry said the patient is a 5-year-old boy from Mocha
Island, who was taken to Guillermo Grant Benavente Hospital in Concepcion
city, where he is recovering.

Two
cases with rapid development of drug-resistant 2009 H1N1 influenza reported
27 Mar 2010 Scientists have reported two cases in which people with compromised
immune systems who became ill with 2009 H1N1 influenza developed drug-resistant
strains of virus after less than two weeks on therapy. Doctors from the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of
the National Institutes of Health, have said that medics, who treat prolonged
influenza infection should be aware that even a short course of antiviral
treatment may lead to drug-resistant virus.

F.D.A.
Says Millions Got Unapproved Heart Pills
26 Mar 2010 Doctors in the United States wrote more than four million
prescriptions last year for nitroglycerin tablets, heart drugs placed
under the tongue to reduce the chest pain angina or to stop a heart attack.
But the majority of the drugs sold had not been approved for sale, nor
had their safety and effectiveness been vetted, by the Food and Drug Administration.
And many doctors, who discovered only last week that pharmacies were giving
their patients unproved heart tablets, now say they have no way of knowing
whether patients have suffered unnecessarily as a result.

*****

Pentagon
wants $33 billion more for war in Afghanistan25 Mar 2010 The
Pentagon wants $33 billion in additional funding to pay for the war in
Afghanistan this year and train the Afghan military, but members of Congress
want to make sure they’re not writing a blank check. Defense Secretary
Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared before
Senate appropriators to defend the war supplemental, which
is on top of the $708 billion baseline budget submitted to Congress in
February. Most of the war supplemental -- a separate account
used to pay for war costs -- will pay for Afghanistan operations. [See:
Barack
Obama: Change We Can Deceive In --A critique from the Left By
Lori Price 19 Aug 2009.]

KBR
Bills $5 Million For Mechanics Who Work 43 Minutes a Month
By Adam Weinstein 25 Mar 2010 The Department of Defense agreed to pay
the megacontractor KBR $5 million a year to repair tactical vehicles,
from Humvees to big rigs, at Joint Base Balad, a large airfield and supply
center north of Baghdad. Yet according to a new
Pentagon report, what the military got was as many as 144 civilian
mechanics, each doing as little as 43 minutes of work a month, with virtually
no oversight. The report, issued March 3 by the DOD's inspector general,
found that between late 2008 and mid-2009, KBR performed less than 7 percent
of the work it was expected to do, but still got paid in full.

U.S.
looks to export drone technology to allies 25 Mar 2010 Defense
Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday he hoped to export coveted U.S.
drone technology to allies, despite legal hurdles, and played down the
threat from rival drone programs in nations like Iran. Gates, testifying
at a Senate hearing, said it was in the U.S. interest to try to help friendly
nations get drone technology, despite limitations on exports imposed by
an international pact.

Despite
'row,' US seals military deal with Israel 26 Mar 2010 The US gives
written consent to generously boost the Israeli military despite Washington's
alleged dissatisfaction with Israeli settlement activities in the occupied
Palestinian territories. Upon agreeing on a relevant deal, the United
States agreed to hand over roughly 250-million-dollars worth of Hercules
C-130J aircraft to the Israeli army, the Israeli Haaretz
newspaper said on Thursday.

Israeli
tanks cross into Gaza 26 Mar 2010 Israeli tanks have crossed the
border into the Gaza Strip with helicopters and drones reportedly flying
over the coastal area. Citing Palestinian sources, Reuters reported that
five Israeli tanks and two armored bulldozers entered into the Gaza Strip
and started firing towards the central town of Khan Yunis on Friday.

Sources:
Iran-Contra operative linked to questionable spy program
25 Mar 2010 former high-ranking CIA official who was involved in the Iran-Contra
scandal has worked on an alleged ad hoc spy [and assassination] program
that the Pentagon is investigating, CNN has learned. Duane "Dewey" Clarridge
-- who was pardoned for his alleged role in the Reagan-era scandal by
President George H. W. Bush in the waning hours of his presidency in 1992
-- is using contacts in Afghanistan and Pakistan to obtain information
for the Pentagon, according to former government officials familiar with
the current program.

'Govt
not buying electricity from Iran due to US pressure' 26 Mar 2010
There is no valid reason why the government should not be serious about
purchasing electricity from Iran especially at a time when the whole country
is suffering from load shedding, Senator Professor Khurshid Ahmed said
on Thursday, citing US pressure to be the main reason behind the hesitation.
Speaking on a point of order in the Upper House, he claimed that an American
lobby was working against the interests of Iran, which was
also creating hurdles for the Iran-Pakistan Pipeline Project and the provision
of electricity from Iran.

Amid
pro-Maliki protests, Allawi coalition named winner 26 Mar 2010
The full preliminary results from Iraq's recent parliamentary elections
point to the victory of the coalition led by former premier [US-installed
oil puppet] Iyad Allawi over its main rival and incumbent Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki. Securing 91 seats in the 325-member Council of Representatives,
two more than those won by Maliki's State of Law coalition, Allawi's secular
al-Iraqiya Alliance came victorious out of the March 7 elections, Iraqi
electoral officials announced on Friday.

Marines
Charged in Killings of Iraqis
26 Mar 2010 A look at Marines who were charged in three high-profile cases
involving killings of Iraqis: Eight members of the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based
3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, were accused murder or failing to
investigate crimes stemming from the killing of 24 civilians in Haditha,
Iraq, in November 2005.

Gunmen
kill engineer in eastern Afghanistan 26 Mar 2010 The acting governor
of Khost province in eastern Afghanistan says gunmen opened fire on a
group of engineers inspecting a high school, killing one of them. Taher
Khan Sabari says three other people were wounded in Friday's attack in
Khost City, the provincial capital.

US
and Russia seal deal to slash nuclear arsenals by a third 26 Mar
2010 President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev,
on Friday sealed a landmark nuclear arms reduction treaty that they will
sign together in Prague next month. After months of deadlock, the deal
on a successor to the Cold War-era Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start)
was hailed as Mr Obama's most significant foreign policy achievement since
taking office. The final agreement was reached between the two leaders
during a telephone call and commits the world's biggest nuclear weapons
powers to slash their arsenals by nearly a third.

Don't
hand passport to officials, FCO tells Britons travelling to Israel
--Foreign and Commonwealth Office says visitors should not hand documents
to Israeli officials unless absolutely necessary 24 Mar 2010 Britons
travelling to Israel are warned not to hand their passports over to Israeli
officials unless it is absolutely necessary in travel advice issued by
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The advice was posted on the FCO
website yesterday... The advisory was issued on the back of information
from the Serious Organised Crime Agency. FCO officials admitted such a
step was not usual but said it had a "duty" to protect British citizens
whose lives might be endangered. It follows Britain's belief that passports
were copied by Israel at Ben Gurion airport.

Israel
told: no passport promise means no new Mossad diplomat --Miliband
demands assurances that identity cloning will never happen again 25
Mar 2010 The Israeli government will not be allowed to replace the senior
Mossad station chief expelled from London over the cloning of British
passports used in the assassination of a Hamas commander unless it offers
a public assurance that UK citizens' documents will never be used again
for clandestine operations. The Foreign Secretary David Miliband wants
his Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Lieberman, to make the pledge. British
diplomatic officials are insisting the situation is not negotiable.

American
Terror Suspect Worked for D.E.A. 25 Mar 2010 An American charged
with helping plan the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, moved effortlessly
between the United States, Pakistan and India for nearly seven years,
training at a militant camp in Pakistan on five occasions, according to
a plea agreement released by the Justice Department last week... David
C. Headley was an informant in Pakistan for the Drug Enforcement Agency
in the 1990s. He was in Pakistan for the drug agency from the late
1990s until at least 2001. By 2002, he was
training with Lashkar, raising the possibility that he had made contact
with the militants while still working for the drug agency.

Bin
Laden: We Will Execute Americans If You Harm KSM --U.S. Official:
Osama's Threat 'Height of Absurdity' 25 Mar 2010 In an audiotape released
Thursday, Osama bin Laden [who likely died of kidney disease in December
2001] threatened to kill any captured Americans if the U.S. government
executes accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Muhammad. U.S. officials
are trying to authenticate the message, but believe it is in fact bin
laden's message. The message first aired on Al-Jazeera television. In
the message, bin Laden said al Qaeda [al-CIAduh] would take revenge against
Americans if Muhammad, who has taken credit for planning
the 9/11 attacks [after being waterboarded 183 times], or any other al
Qaeda operatives in U.S. custody were to be executed. [The 'height
of absurdity' is the official explanation of the events of 9/11. Notice
how these phony messages are *always* on audiotape? They actually emanate
from Langley, VA.]

GOP:
We'll Kill the Liars Who Say We Are Inciting Violence --'Where does
it say in the Constitution that you can't use the 'n-word?' Satire
by R J Shulman 26 Mar 2010 Republican leaders are vehemently denying their
tactics and rhetoric have been responsible for the major recent increase
in political violence... "The liberal press has it all wrong when they
accuse me of telling Tea Party heroes to hang and burn in effigy the tyrant
who has occupied the White House," said Representative Michele Bachmann
(R-Minn). "I never said nothing about it being in effigy." (Satire)

FBI:
NY congressman gets 'threatening' letter with white powder
25 Mar 2010 The office of Representative Anthony Weiner received a letter
that "could be interpreted as threatening," the FBI said on Thursday,
and local media reported the letter contained an unidentified white powder.
Authorities were responding to the office of the Democratic Congressman
in the New York City borough of Queens, and no other details were immediately
available, said FBI spokesman Richard Kolko.

Death
threats plague Democrats who supported Barack Obama's health care bill
--Democrats who supported sweeping changes to America's health care system
have been subjected to death threats and vandalism as the tide of anger
and outrage over the bill grows.
25 Mar 2010 The FBI has been called in to investigate after bricks were
thrown through Democrats' windows and menacing phone messages were left
for politicians who supported the bill. Four Democratic offices across
the country have been targeted and least 10 members of Congress have reported
some sort of threat. No arrests have so far been made.

Georgia
Attorney General Faces Impeachment Threat After Refusing to File Anti-Health
Care Lawsuit 25 Mar 2010 Georgia lawmakers reacted to Wednesday's
news that their Attorney General, Democrat Thurbert Baker, would
not sign on to a multi-state lawsuit to block the health care bill
in his state by filing
papers to have him impeached. The blog Peach Pundit reports
that the resolution to impeach Baker,
also a candidate for Georgia governor, now has at least 30 signatures
and is still going forward. Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican, petitioned
Baker to sign on to the joint lawsuit filed by more than a dozen attorneys
general across the country earlier this week that seeks to shield states
from the effects of the new health bill...

Former
militiaman unapologetic for calls to vandalize offices over health care25
Mar 2010; 3:52 PM The call to arms was issued at 5:55 a.m. last Friday.
"To all modern Sons of Liberty: THIS is your time. Break their windows.
Break them NOW." These were the words of Mike Vanderboegh, a 57-year-old
former militiaman from Alabama, who took to his blog urging people who
opposed the historic health-care reform legislation to throw bricks through
the windows of Democratic offices nationwide... Local Democratic Party
officials in New York have called for Vanderboegh's arrest, believing
he is implicated in the vandalism in Rochester, but Vanderboegh said he
has not yet been questioned by any law enforcement authorities.

House
passes reconciliation bill on 220 to 207 vote25
Mar 2010 Congress passed the final piece of President Obama's landmark
health-care package Thursday, the last legislative hurdle in a year-long
debate over the issue. On a 220 to 207 vote Thursday night, the House
approved a reconciliation bill that amends the newly enacted health-care
law and includes a major overhaul of the student loan program and expansion
of Pell Grants. The bill now goes to Obama for his signature.

Congress
Completes Overhaul of Health Care 25 Mar 2010 Capping an epic
struggle, congressional Democrats put the final touches Thursday to historic
legislation enshrining health care as the right of every citizen. Republicans
vowed to campaign for repeal in the fall election season, drawing a quick
retort from President Barack Obama: "I welcome that fight." The president
spoke in Iowa as the Senate voted 56-43 for legislation making changes,
including better benefits for seniors and low-income and middle-class
families, to the bill he signed into law with a flourish at the White
House on Tuesday.

G.O.P.
Forces New House Vote on Package of Health Bill Changes --Senate
to return health bill to House 25 Mar 2010 With the Senate working
through an all-night session on a package of changes to the Democrats’
sweeping 'health care' legislation, Republicans early Thursday morning
identified parliamentary problems with at least two provisions that will
require the measure to be sent back to the House for yet another vote,
once the Senate adopts it.

Together
Again: Palin Campaigns For McCain In Arizona 26 Mar 2010 Sen.
John McCain, R-Ariz., got some help with his reelection campaign Friday
from his former vice presidential running mate, Sarah Palin. McCain faces
a challenge from former congressman and conservative talk-radio host JD
Hayworth and some observers think McCain is facing a tough fight. Palin
praised McCain and said Arizona voters need to return "the maverick"
to Washington to continue the fight against the "Obama-Pelosi-Reid
agenda." [I wonder what McCain has on Palin that forced her to
campaign for him? It's gotta be *huge.*]

Sharks
and polar bears failed by conference --An international conference
to protect endangered species has been pronounced a 'disaster' for failing
to protect sharks, polar bears and bluefin tuna. 25 Mar 2010 The Convention
in International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) in Doha, Qatar brought
together 175 countries to decide the best way to protect endangered animals.
But attempts to ban the trade in bluefin tuna and polar bear parts failed.
Attempts to increase protection of sharks and coral also failed. Oliver
Knowles, Greenpeace international oceans campaigner, said the conference
has been a disaster for conservation.

Crisis
of disappearing honeybees continues
25 Mar 2010 The mysterious 4-year-old crisis of disappearing honeybees
is deepening. A quick federal survey indicates a heavy bee die-off this
winter, while a new study shows honeybees' pollen and hives laden with
pesticides. Two federal agencies along with regulators in California and
Canada are scrambling to figure out what is behind this relatively recent
threat, ordering new research on pesticides used in fields and orchards.
Federal courts are even weighing in this month,
ruling that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency overlooked a requirement
when allowing a pesticide on the market.

Earth
Hour - climate change campaigners urge global switch-off --The fourth
annual lights-out event expects 1 billion participants, and counts for
the first time international landmarks including the Eiffel Tower, the
Empire State building and the Burj Khalifa 26 Mar 2010 The biggest
turn-off in human history will start at 8.30pm tomorrow in Chatham, a
tiny South Pacific island with only 12 street lamps. Almost 25 hours later,
but at 9.30pm the same day, it will finish on the other side of the international
dateline in the Galapagos Islands, where scientists at the Charles Darwin
Research Station will share a candle-lit dinner with several hundred locals
and environmental activists.

*****

GOP
Lawmaker Poised to Call for Special Prosecutor to Investigate White House
24 Mar 2010 Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Oversight
committee, told CBS News Wednesday that he will call for a special prosecutor
to investigate the White House if it does not address Rep. Joe Sestak's
claim that he was offered a federal job in exchange for dropping out of
the Pennsylvania Senate primary. "If the public doesn't receive a satisfactory
answer, the next step would be to call for a special prosecutor, which
is well within the statute," Issa told Hotsheet. [OMG! A GOP lawmaker
wants to investigate Obama over a *job offer?* Where is the investigation
of Bush and Cheney for killing thousands on 9/11 and in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Not to mention, war crimes and giving away the National Treasury to Halliburton,
KBR, Blackwater, Fluor, DynCorp, Goldman Suchs, and a hundred other corporaterrorist
cronies under the cover of endless illegal wars and occupations for oil?
--LRP]

Terrorists
'could use exploding breast implants to blow up jet' --Breast-implants
packed with explosives could be used by terrorists to blow up an airliner,
experts have reportedly warned.
24 Mar 2010 'Radical Islamist' plastic surgeons could be carrying out
the implant operations in lawless areas of Pakistan, security sources
are said to warned. Explosives experts have reportedly said just five
ounces of Pentaerythritol Tetrabitrate packed into a breast implant would
be enough to blow a "considerable" hole in the side of a jumbo
jet. [Only the CIA 'let's spike French bread with LSD' could dream
of this one. And the
sex offenders that the TSA *loves* to hire are going to have a field day
with this one, with all the extra pat-downs and searches.]

113
terror suspects arrested in Kingdom 25 Mar 2010 Saudi security
forces have arrested 113 [alleged] Al-Qaeda militants who were planning
to carry out terrorist attacks on a number of targets inside the Kingdom
including oil installations, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki said his forces had broken
up three cells of Al-Qaeda militants, with one cell consisting of 101
people, and two smaller cells made up of six men each.

NY
judge: CIA can keep secrets despite ACLU demand 24 Mar 2010 A
judge for a second time has denied efforts by the American Civil Liberties
Union to force the CIA to release names and documents relating to Sept.
11 detainees prisoners who were interrogated harshly tortured.
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein listened to lawyers for the ACLU and the government
for more than an hour Wednesday before announcing he had not changed his
mind and would issue a written ruling later. He told attorney Larry Lustberg,
who argued for the ACLU, that he had made an impact. "However, I will
adhere to the views I expressed last time and deny the motion," the judge
said.

CIA
may face prosecution for drones' raids in Pakistan 24 Mar 2010
The US government's refusal to offer legal grounds for CIA's drones bombing
raids in Pakistan may result in CIA officers facing prosecution for war
crimes. "Prominent voices in the international legal community" were increasingly
impatient with Washington's silence on the CIA's bombing raids in Pakistan
and elsewhere, Kenneth Anderson, a law professor at American University,
told a congressional panel on Tuesday, AFP reported.

US
panel debates drone legality --US plans
to order over 7000 drones 24 Mar 2010 Unmanned aerial vehicles
(UVAs) or drones are remote-controlled aircraft without people onboard,
which can carry and utilize missiles. In alleged UVA attacks targeting
al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters, collateral damage has reportedly claimed
the lives of many civilians. As the US plans to order more drones to add
to the more than 7000 they already have, there is still no legal framework
or set of standards for how to use the new technology. [Since the drones
are there to kill, civilians should be proactive and blow them out of
the sky before they carry out their daily 'collateral damage.']

Alleged
private spy ring prompts wider US probe: Pentagon 23 Mar 2010
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered a study of US "information
operations" after a Pentagon official allegedly set up a spy network [and
death squads] with private contractors mercenaries, a spokesman
said on Tuesday. A small team of senior military and defense officials
will "conduct a quick look assessment" and report their findings within
15 days, press secretary Geoff Morrell told a news conference.

NATO
won't destroy Afghan poppy fields 25 Mar 2010 NATO has rejected
an appeal made by Russia for eradication of opium fields in Afghanistan,
arguing that the sole source of income in the region cannot be removed.
Addressing a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council on Wednesday, head of
Russia's Federal Drug Control Agency (FSKN) Victor Ivanov said "Afghan
opiates led to the death of 1 million people by overdose in the last 10
years, and that is United Nations data. Is that not a threat to world
peace and security?"

Two
hurt as Nato helicopter crash lands in Afghanistan 23 Mar 2010
A helicopter carrying Turkish soldiers has crash landed in Afghanistan,
injuring at least two of its occupants, the Turkish military says. The
aircraft came down near the town of Wardak, south of the capital, Kabul.
One report said the aircraft had technical problems while landing.

Poll:
73% of Russians view US as aggressor--Only eight [delusional]
percent agreed that the United States was "a defender of peace, democracy
and order." 24
Mar 2010 Almost three-quarters of Russians view the US as an "aggressor"
seeking world domination, according to an opinion poll released by Levada
Center polling agency. The survey published on Wednesday indicates 73
percent of respondents agreed that the United States was "an aggressor
trying to take control" of all countries in the world.

UN
rights body condemns Israel 24 Mar 2010 The United Nations Human
Rights Council has passed three resolutions in condemnation of Israel's
"grave human rights violations" in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The United States, however, voted against the resolutions, which condemned
Israel over its policies related to Palestinian and Syrian territories,
Haaretz reported.

Britons
queued at Ben Gurion airport as Israeli officials cloned passports
--Soca report into forgeries used in Dubai killing says personal data
was stolen in border checks 24 Mar 2010 Passing through Israel's Ben
Gurion airport, a few miles east of Tel Aviv, is a unique experience no
first-time visitor is likely to forget. It represents the pinnacle of
modern aviation security. Baggage is passed through giant, state-of-the-art
machines, and travellers - both arriving and leaving - are frequently
subjected to lengthy, personal and repetitive questioning by officials,
on their ethnic background and that of any local acquaintances they may
have made.

Clone
wars: Mossad's London chief expelled over forged passports --New details
are revealed showing how Israeli security services stole British citizens'
identities. Foreign Office advises travellers to
Israel that they risk having their passports cloned 24 Mar
2010 Britain has expelled Mossad's most senior official in London after
concluding there was compelling evidence that UK passports used by a hit
squad in Dubai were cloned by Israel. The Independent has learnt that
the documents were cloned at Ben Gurion airport, and officials then made
follow-up calls to check surreptitiously that the travel plans of those
whose identities had been stolen would not interfere with the assassination.
"Such misuse of British passports is intolerable," the Foreign Secretary
David Miliband told Parliament.

New
Israeli construction plan undermines talks 24 Mar 2010 Israel
announced today that it had given the green light for 20 more homes in
a Jewish development in the disputed area of Jerusalem. The announcement
came after one of the frostiest meetings between a US president and an
Israeli leader. Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, had flown
to Washington for an emergency meeting with Barack Obama after a trip
to the Middle East by Joe Biden, the Vice President, was wrecked by an
Israeli plan to build 1,600 new Jewish homes in east Jerusalem.

Gunmen
Kill Iraqi Soldiers On Guard In Baghdad 24 Mar 2010 Gunmen shot
and killed five Iraqi Army soldiers at a military checkpoint in south
Baghdad on Wednesday as the country prepared for election results scheduled
to be released Friday. Seven people were killed and 11 others were wounded
in Baghdad and in restive areas north and east of the capital. The soldiers
were fatally shot by a group of men in three cars [Blackwater?] as they
passed through a checkpoint in Radwaniya, a Sunni neighborhood near the
Baghdad airport, said a security official who spoke on the condition of
anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Iraqi
demonstrators call for recount of ballots 24 Mar 2010 Hundreds
of Iraqis have taken to the streets in the southern city of Basra to demand
the nationwide recount of votes from the country's March 7 parliamentary
elections. The demonstrators who support Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's
demand for a manual recount of around 12 million ballots, gathered outside
the provincial government's offices in Basra on Wednesday.

Halliburton
drops high court appeal in rape case
22 Mar 2010 Halliburton Co. and KBR have withdrawn an appeal asking the
Supreme Court to block the trial of a former military contractor from
Texas who says she was raped by co-workers in Iraq. Halliburton confirmed
today that the appeal was withdrawn. Jamie Leigh Jones says she was raped
while working for KBR in Baghdad in 2005. She later sued KBR and Halliburton,
which split in 2007. Halliburton and KBR had argued that Jones’ case should
be settled in arbitration as required by her contract. A lower court ruled
it could go to trial, which is set for May 2011.

Vic
police face sack over racist emails
25 Mar 2010 (AU) A series of offensive emails shared among Victoria Police
officers are too shocking to ever be released publicly, the state's police
chief says. Up to 100 officers are being investigated and could face the
sack for sending the emails on work computers. The emails are extremely
racist, homophobic and pornographic, officers have told media outlets.
The most serious email shows an ethnic man being tortured, The Age reported.

Steny
Hoyer: Members are at risk 24 Mar 2010 House Majority Leader Steny
Hoyer is warning that some of his Democratic colleagues are being threatened
with violence when they go back to their districts -- and he wants Republicans
to stand up and condemn the threats. The Maryland Democrat said more than
10 House Democrats have reported incidents of threats or other forms of
harassment about their support of the highly divisive health insurance
overhaul vote.

Words,
and now bricks thrown at lawmakers over health care vote 24 Mar
2010 Law enforcement officials are investigating a series of threats against
Democrats in the House of Representatives who backed the recent health
care legislation, threats that have lawmakers on edge about potential
violence against them both in Washington and back home. "We've had some
very serious incidents that have occurred in the last 48 to 72 hours,"
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said at a news conference on
Wednesday, adding, "any member who feels themselves at risk is getting
attention from the proper authorities."

Gas
line cut at home of Va. congressman's brother
24 Mar 2010 Authorities are investigating a severed
propane line at the home of a Virginia congressman's brother after
tea party activists posted the man's
address online. Activists are upset
about U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello's (D) vote in favor of the health care reform.
Perriello's office said that a line to a propane tank on a gas grill was
cut at Bo Perriello's Charlottesville home on Tuesday. Tea party activists
had posted the address online thinking it was the congressman's home,
telling opponents to drop by and "express their thanks" for his vote.
[If you're a corporaterrorist thug and cut a gas line of a Congressman's
home or hurl a brick through a window -- you're labeled an *activist*
by The Associated Press. POLITICO labeled the act an *incident.*
If
you're *leftwing* and appeared with a Kerry button at a Bush rally, you
were arrested. See: Guns
OK Outside Obama Town Hall; Kerry Pins Brought Arrest At Bush Rally
By Lori Price 12 Aug 2009 Bush's Waffen-SS arrested (and strip-searched)
people with Kerry-Edwards buttons pinned to their T-shirts and paper protest
signs at his at his GOP-only appearances. But, when a Reichwinger attends
a New Hampshire town hall meeting with a gun -- merely yards from President
Obama -- the protester not only gets to remain at the meeting but also
gets to be a guest on MSNBC's 'Hardball.']

FBI
investigates Virginia incident 24 Mar 2010 Law enforcement authorities
are investigating the discovery of a cut propane gas line at the Virginia
home of Rep. Thomas Perriello’s (D-Va.) brother, whose address was targeted
by tea party activists angry at the
congressman’s vote for the health care bill. An aide to the congressman
confirmed to POLITICO that a line to a propane tank behind his brother's
home near Charlottesville had been sliced. The FBI would not disclose
the details of the incident but said that they have been to the home.

Sarah
Palin's PAC Puts Gun Sights On Democrats She's Targeting In 2010
24 Mar 2010 Sarah Palin is targeting -- yes, with gun sights -- House
Democrats facing tough reelection fights who voted for health care reform.
Palin's Facebook page now carries a map featuring 20 gun sights, one for
each of the Democrats targeted this year by her political action committee
terrorist group SarahPAC. Three of the gun sights, those where incumbent
Democrats have already announced their retirement, are colored red.

State
House backs 4-day school week --Proponents say option could help struggling
school districts
22 Mar 2010 In an effort to help strapped school districts save money,
the House on Monday approved a bill that would let local school boards
set four-day weeks for students. Students would still be required to go
to school the same number of hours every year... The bill passed the House
on an 81-21 vote and goes to the Senate for consideration. [Yeah, let's
buy more nuclear power plants for Pakistan instead of funding education
in the US. See: Pakistan
hands over wish list to US --List includes requests for drones, helicopter
gunships, help on energy crisis [?], more
intelligence cooperation --Clinton says US will do 'everything' to address
Pak financial challenges 24 Mar 2010.]

Rotarix
rotavirus vaccine contaminated with pig virus, officials say --About
1 million children in the US received Rotarix vaccine 22 Mar 2010
Federal health authorities recommended Monday that doctors suspend using
Rotarix, one of two vaccines licensed in the United States against rotavirus,
saying the vaccine is contaminated with material from a pig virus. Rotarix,
made by GlaxoSmithKline, was approved by the FDA in 2008. The contaminant
material is DNA from porcine circovirus 1, a virus from pigs.

Disputed
Bay of Bengal island 'vanishes' say scientists
--Scientists: Other nearby islands could also vanish as sea levels rise.
24 Mar 2010 A tiny island claimed for years by India and Bangladesh in
the Bay of Bengal has disappeared beneath the rising seas, scientists
in India say. The uninhabited territory south of the Hariabhanga river
was known as New Moore Island to the Indians and South Talpatti Island
to the Bangladeshis. Recent satellites images show the whole island under
water, says the School of Oceanographic Studies in Calcutta.

Killer
icicles terrorise Russians 24 Mar 2010 Falling icicles and ice
blocks have killed five people and injured 147 in the city following Russia's
coldest winter in 30 years. The toll has prompted residents and relatives
of victims to demand action against those responsible for what they believe
to be careless clearing of ice from rooftops. "Every day, I go out into
the street as if I was entering a war zone," complained resident Boris
Ilinsky, 28. "I've got to keep my eyes on the ground to avoid slipping
and I'm also looking up to avoid falling lumps of ice," he added.

*****

US
aviation security to adopt Israeli model --US official says Israel's
security protocols 'offer blueprint for trying to thwart terrorism plots
in aviation system' 24 Mar 2010 Israel News President Barack Obama's
nominee to oversee security at US airports said on Tuesday he wants to
shift screening closer to the Israeli model to include more behavior detection
in a bid to thwart terrorism plots. Retired Major General Robert Harding
was nominated earlier this month to head the Transportation Security Administration
after serving more than three decades in the military, including a stint
as deputy to the Army's chief of intelligence and director for operations
in the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Pakistan
hands over wish list to US
--List includes requests for drones, helicopter gunships, help
on energy crisis [?], more intelligence cooperation --Clinton says
US will do 'everything' to address Pak financial challenges
24 Mar 2010 Pakistan has submitted a wish list to Washington ahead of
strategic talks scheduled to start today, asking for pilot-less drones
and helicopter gunships as well as economic and other aid, US and Pakistani
officials said on Tuesday. The 56-page document includes requests for
more help in dealing with water and energy crises, greater cooperation
between the ISI and US intelligence outfits, more helicopter gunships
and other military hardware. Pakistan also wants
a civilian nuclear energy cooperation deal with the US, and
a role in any future peace talks between the Afghan government and the
Taliban. [If USociopaths weren't paying for Pakistan's *nuclear* programs
(LOL!
What happened to the phony fear of 'al-Qaeda' getting hold of Pakistan's
nuclear material?),
we could have single-payer health care and fix US infrastructure!
But no. Instead, US taxpayers have to fund contractors' bl*w jobs in Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Iraq
-
*everywhere* but here, as the Reichwing refuses to allow the people to
have anything, under cover of the monstrous deficit (created by George
W. Bush). Now, how come the topic of the 'deficit' and 'CBO scoring' isn't
raised when the US wants to fund Pakistan's nuclear energy and Afghanistan's
roads?
--LRP]

US
drone attack kills six in Pakistan [Hey, Hillary! Instead of building
nuclear plants, why not just stop the daily slaughter of Pakistan's eight-year-olds?]
23
Mar 2010 Two missiles fired from US drones have killed at least six people
in a Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan. According to Pakistani
security officials, the two missiles landed in a compound in the suburbs
of Miranshah town in the North Waziristan tribal region. Meanwhile, other
reports said that two others were injured in the strike.

New
Mossad rep to head to UK
--Israel to send replacement for diplomat expelled
by Britain over passport affair, Ynet learns 24 Mar 2010 On
Tuesday, Britain's foreign secretary announced, without saying so explicitly,
the expulsion of the Mossad's representative in London in response to
the forging of United Kingdom passports -- however, despite the dramatic
statement, Israel will soon send a replacement for the expelled representative,
Ynet learned. Senior officials in Israel said the government does not
wish to escalate the diplomatic confrontation as result of the forged
passport affair.

UK
expels Israeli 'diplomat' over Dubai terror 23 Mar 2010 The United
Kingdom has ordered the expulsion of a senior Israeli diplomat over the
use of fake British passports in the terrorist murder of a Hamas commander
in Dubai. "I have asked that a member of the embassy of Israel be withdrawn
from the UK as a result of this affair, and this is taking place," Foreign
Secretary David Miliband said Tuesday. The expelled Israeli 'diplomat'
is widely reported to be a Mossad operative in the regime's embassy in
London.

Graham
Proposal on Terrorist Detention Circulating on Hill
23 Mar 2010 Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina has finalized
the details of his proposal to change the nation’s terrorist detention
system and White House officials have approached congressional Democrats
in the hopes of garnering support for the plan on the Hill, the Washington
Post reported
Tuesday. In January, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Graham
began talks on a deal:
the self-proclaimed [under waterboarding] mastermind of the Sept. 11,
2001, terrorist attacks Khalid Sheik Mohammed would be tried in a military
tribunal, in exchange for Graham’s support for a new U.S. detention center to replace Guantanamo Bay. [Join
us in the new CLG Facebook group, Unprivileged
Enemy Belligerents.]

Graham
proposes framework for handling terrorism suspects, rules governing indefinite
detention 23 Mar 2010 Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) has submitted
draft legislation to the White House in an effort to create a broad framework
for handling terrorism suspects... Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.
is scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. When Holder
does appear, he will testify that the original decision on holding a trial
in Manhattan was a "close call," a Justice Department official said, a
phrase that he has used before but that in the current debate would signal
an impending White House decision in favor of a military tribunal.

Supreme
Court declines case: US can move detainees without notice --The Supreme
Court declined to hear a case on whether federal judges can require the
US to give 30 days notice of any plan to move Guantánamo detainees to
another country.
23 Mar
2010 The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up an appeal by a
group of Guantánamo Bay detainees prisoners seeking the ability
to challenge US efforts to resettle them in third countries where they
may face human rights abuses. The high court action lets stand a ruling
by the federal appeals court in Washington. That ruling states that US
district judges hearing habeas corpus petitions filed by Guantánamo detainees
do not have authority to order the government to provide the detainees
30 days notice before transferring them from Guantánamo to another country
for resettlement.

Defense
secretary orders review of military information programs--Military 'information' programs have 2010 budget
of over $500 million 24 Mar 2010 Defense Secretary Robert M.
Gates has ordered a review of the military's information operations programs
in response to allegations that private contractors mercenaries
ran an unauthorized spy ring [and death squads] in Afghanistan. Pentagon
spokesman Geoff Morrell said Tuesday that Gates had instructed a small
group of senior officials to determine whether there were any "systemic
problems" with the operations, which include electronic warfare, psychological
operations and other noncombat programs and have a budget this year of
more than $500 million.

AP:
Charges eyed for ex-Blackwater chief 23 Mar 2010 Federal prosecutors
are considering filing weapons charges against former top officials of
the Blackwater Worldwide private security mercenary company over
allegations they illegally stockpiled automatic rifles at the company's
North Carolina headquarters, The Associated Press has learned. Senior
Justice Department officials are reviewing a draft indictment against
former president Gary Jackson, former Blackwater lawyer Andrew Howell,
and a third man who used to work at the firm's armory, people close to
the case told the AP.

US
Navy warns ships off Yemen of possible al-Qaida attacks
23 Mar 2010 The U.S. Navy is warning of possible al-Qaida attacks against
ships off the coast of Yemen, where an offshoot of the terrorist network
has established a significant base of operations over the past year. Yemen
became a focus of deep international concern in December when 'al-Qaida'
in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility [?] for the failed attempt
to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner, showing the group based in an impoverished
and unstable corner of the Middle East had global reach. "Information
suggests that al-Qaida remains interested in maritime attacks in the Bab
al-Mandeb Strait, Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden along the coast of Yemen,"
said an advisory from the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence.

Spain
raises terror alert level 22 Mar 2010 Spain said on Monday it
has raised its terror alert level due to "recent events," six days after
a French police officer was killed in an attack blamed on the Basque separatist
group ETA. The alert went from "low intensity" to "high intensity" within
the level two on a scale of four, indicating a "probable risk of a terrorist
attack," the interior ministry said in a statement.

Want
to Fly Through a Loophole in the No-Fly List? Buy a Plane --TSA Confirms:
Current Rules Don't Require Security Checks for Passengers on Private
Jets 23 Mar 2010 For the wealthy, a place on the U.S. government's
recently expanded terrorist no-fly list has not turned out to be a major
impediment to a jet-setting lifestyle. A loophole in the Transportation
Security Administration's security regulations does not require any screening
for those flying domestically on a privately-owned aircraft, no matter
how large. Both TSA officials and FBI Terrorist Screening Center director
Timothy Healy confirmed to ABC News last week that the effort to keep
U.S. airspace off-limits to terror suspects has not included vetting the
passengers and pilots on large private jets.

Airport
device follows fliers' phones 23 Mar 2010 Today's smartphones
and PDAs could have a new use in the nation's airports. The Transportation
Security Administration is looking at installing devices in airports that
home in and detect personal electronic equipment. The aim is to track
how long people are stuck in security lines. Information about wait times
could then be posted on websites and in airports across the country. But
civil-liberties experts worry that such a system enables the government
to track people's whereabouts.

Policing
thought in America: Why can't we discuss the events of 9/11? By
James Fetzer 19 March 2010 The brain trust that calls itself The Huffington
Post has disgraced itself and shown the "progressive left" is a cowardly
fraud by removing
a column guest written by Jesse Ventura about 9/11. The official explanation
from no less than Arianna Huffington, presumably, is "Editor's Note:
The Huffington Post's editorial policy, laid out in our blogger
guidelines, prohibits the promotion and promulgation of conspiracy theories--including
those about 9/11. As such, we have removed this post." Maybe no one
explained to these worthies that if any one were to write about 9/11,
they would be writing about a conspiracy theory, since the government’s
own "official account" is only the most outrageous.

Walgreen
Wishes You'd Get The Flu --Walgreen laments Slow Flu Season 23
Mar 2010 Swine flu might be bad for your health, but it's a boost to drugstore
chains like Walgreen. That meant trouble in the most recently completed
quarter though, when sales of flu vaccinations and cold remedies, which
had surged, dropped off as flu season turned out to be weaker than anticipated.
Walgreen doled out just 2 million flu shots in the second quarter, down
from 5 million in the previous three-month period, and on Tuesday the
company announced its second-quarter earnings fell short of analysts'
expectations.

14
states sue to block health care law --All but one of the state officials,
LA's Buddy Caldwell, are Republicans. 23 Mar 2010 Officials from 14
states have gone to court to block the historic overhaul of the U.S. health
care system that President Obama signed into law Tuesday, arguing the
law's requirement that individuals buy health insurance violates the Constitution.
Thirteen of those officials filed suit in a federal court in Pensacola,
Florida, minutes after Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act.

President
Obama signs landmark health bill into law 23 Mar 2010 President
Obama signed a landmark health-care bill into law Tuesday, enacting a
sweeping overhaul of the nation's $2.5 trillion health system after a
year-long effort that he said shows the United States "faces its challenges
and accepts its responsibilities." "The bill I am signing will set in
motion reforms that generations of Americans have fought for and marched
for and hungered to see," Obama said before putting his signature on the
legislation.

Pinson
man urges protesters to throw bricks 23 Mar 2010 An Alabama blogger
[Mike Vanderboegh] is taking credit for a brick being thrown through the
window of the Democratic Committee headquarters in Monroe County, N.Y.
The blog, which takes a "strict constructionist, libertarian point of
view" according to its author, encouraged its readers to throw bricks
at the windows of Democratic headquarters across the country. A brick
was thrown through the glass doors at the committee's Rochester, N.Y.,
office, either late Saturday night or early Sunday. Attached to the brick
was a quote from Barry Goldwater: "Extremism in defense of liberty is
novice." [What's
good for the rightwing goose is good for the leftwing gander.]

Bricks
shatter glass at NY Democratic offices 22 Mar 2010 Authorities
are trying to find out [Yeah, right!] who threw bricks through windows
and doors at two Democratic Party offices in western New York before Sunday's
health care vote. Monroe County Democratic Committee officials say a brick
shattered glass doors at the party's headquarters in Rochester on Saturday
or Sunday. Rochester police are investigating. A brick was thrown through
a window at Democratic Rep. Louise Slaughter's district office in Niagara
Falls early Friday.

Rep.
Giffords' Tucson office vandalized after health care vote 22 Mar
2010 The front door was smashed out at Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’
(D) congressional office last night. At 2:40 a.m., just a few hours after
staff left the building after the late-night vote, the alarm system went
off, said spokesman C.J. Karamargin. The panel to the front door and the
glass panel alongside it were smashed. The perpetrator likely had to hop
the gated fence to get access to the door, since it’s not viewable from
the parking lot. Karamargin said it was unclear if the glass had been
shot with a kind of pellet gun, if it had been kicked or smashed with
an object.

ACORN
disbanding because of money woes, 'scandal' 23 Mar 2010 The once
mighty community activist group ACORN announced Monday it is folding amid
falling revenues -- six months after video footage emerged showing some
of its workers giving tax tips to conservative activists Reichwing
wh*res posing as a pimp and prostitute. "It's really declining revenue
in the face of a series of attacks from partisan operatives and right-wing
activists that have taken away our ability to raise the resources we need,"
ACORN spokesman Kevin Whelan said.

Nationwide
strikes in France against Sarkozy
23 Mar 2010 Nationwide strikes in France hobbled public services from
transport to schools Tuesday, with unions hoping their action would put
the brakes on reforms planned by President Nicolas Sarkozy two days after
his party's stinging defeat in regional elections.

Right-wing
U.S. firebrand Ann Coulter will file grievance with rights panel
23 Mar 2010 Inflammatory right-wing pundit Ann Coulter took aim at a University
of Ottawa administrator Monday night, saying an e-mail from the school
warning her to use "restraint, respect and consideration" when
addressing Ontario students during a speaking tour this week made her
a victim of a "hate crime." Speaking to students and academics
at the University of Western Ontario Monday, Coulter said the e-mail sent
to her Friday by Francois Houle, vice-president academic and provost of
the University of Ottawa, targeted her as a member
of an identifiable group [of Reichwing whores and sociopaths?]
and as such, she will be filing a complaint with the Human Rights Commission
alleging hate speech.

Polar
bears, tuna lose a big one --Global group refuses a ban on hunting
two threatened species 23 Mar 2010 A U.N. organization that regulates
wildlife trade voted Thursday against bans on hunting polar bears threatened
by shrinking Arctic ice and on fishing for the Atlantic bluefin tuna.
The U.S. government had backed both proposals at a meeting of the 175-nation
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in Doha, Qatar.
U.S. officials had argued that polar bears shouldn’t be hunted for commercial
trade because they already were threatened by melting sea ice caused by
global warming. Canada allows a hunt for polar
bears for trade in their pelts and other body parts and for trophy hunting.
[*Boycott* Canadian tourism and industry until they stop turning polar
bears into rugs!!]

*****

Iraq
Inquiry asks to question George Bush's senior officials --The Chilcot
Inquiry into the Iraq War could take an explosive new twist after it emerged
that leading figures in George Bush's regime have been asked to give evidence
to it.
20 Mar 2010 Sources in Washington said the inquiry sent out emails "about
three weeks ago" to senior officials in Mr Bush's government including,
it is believed, the former president [sic] himself. Other requests are
understood to have been made to Dick Cheney, Mr Bush's vice-president
[sic], Condoleezza Rice, the former secretary of state, Donald Rumsfeld,
the former US defence secretary, and Stephen Hadley, an ex-national security
adviser - as well as to their deputies and senior assistants. Members
of Sir John Chilcot's panel are believed to be willing to travel to the
US to take evidence - almost certainly in private - on the
administration's policies between the 2003 invasion of Iraq and 2009.

Bagram
air base in Afghanistan 'could be new Guantanamo' -- The United States
is reportedly considering whether to detain international terrorist suspects
at Bagram air base in Afghanistan after the closure of Guantanamo Bay.
22 Mar 2010 The idea is being considered because without Guantanamo Bay,
which President Barack Obama has pledged to shut, it has to either put
suspects through its own court system or hand them over to foreign governments.
"No one particularly likes any of the choices before us right now, but
Bagram may be the least bad among them," a senior defence official told
the Los Angeles Times. [This must be the 'change'
Obama promised, when he ran for president: Guantanamo to Bagram!
When Obama promised to *close Guantanamo,* I *assumed* he meant *all*
CIA secret prisons and torture chambers! Silly me.]

Nuclear
terror risk to Britain from Al-Qaeda --Britain faces an increased
threat of a nuclear attack by al-Qaeda terrorists following a rise in
the trafficking of radiological material, a government report has warned.
22 Mar 2010 Bomb makers who have been active in Afghanistan may already
have the ability to produce a "dirty bomb" using knowledge acquired over
the internet. It is feared that terrorists could transport an improvised
nuclear device up the Thames and detonate it in the heart of London. Bristol,
Liverpool Newcastle, Glasgow and Belfast are also thought to be vulnerable.

Suspected
bomber in lawyer's wig causes terror alert on London Underground --Armed
police were called to deal with a terror threat after a suspected suicide
bomber wearing a barrister's wig was spotted on the London Underground.
22 Mar 2010 A police surveillance unit was sent to follow the man, who
had wires and batteries strapped to his wrists, after a member of the
public reported him at Green Park station, central London. Officers, who
feared the wiring was a detonator, lost the man as he switched trains
but picked up his trail as he left the underground at Finsbury Park, north
London.

UK:
London 2012 Olympics pose greatest terror risk 22 Mar 2010 An
attack on London during the 2012 Olympics poses a major security threat
to Britain, the government said Monday in its latest assessment of risks
from terrorism. "The government is working on the assumption that the
greatest threat to the games is international terrorism and that the threat
in 2012 will be high," Britain's Home Office said in its annual report
on counterterrorism strategy.

US
facing home-grown Islamic terror threat --The United States is facing
what has been described as its "most serious instance of domestic terrorism"
to date, the FBI has warned. 13 Mar 2010 Officials say a second generation
of Somali immigrants is becoming increasingly radicalised and could pose
a growing threat to security. The warnings come amid the revelation that
20 young Somali American men who returned to their war-torn homeland have
been radicalised by a group linked to al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh].

Heads
up!Metro
to stage anti-terrorism drills [in the footsteps of the Pentagon
shooting drills in February, which actually morphed into the real
deal days later --as predicted
by CLG!] 22 Mar 2010 (D.C.) Metro will stage simulated explosions
on a train and bus this weekend as the transit system continues a series
of emergency exercises that test its coordination with other regional
agencies. Metro most recently began conducting drills last month, even
staging a display of force at Union Station during a morning rush hour.
The first drill this weekend will take place at 1 a.m. Sunday when the
agency simulates an explosion on a rail car in the tunnel between Foggy
Bottom and Rosslyn stations. [They are dying to *go
live* again!]

Emergency
response exercises simulate explosions on Metrorail and Metrobus --Exercises
are funded through $1.2 million U.S. DHS Urban Area Security Initiative
grant 22 Mar 2010 Metro and its regional partners will participate
in two emergency response exercises involving simulated explosions on
Metrorail and Metrobus March 28 and 29 to test and practice the multi-jurisdictional
coordination and response needed to mitigate such incidents. The first
exercise takes place at 1 a.m., Sunday, March 28, and will simulate an
explosion on a rail car in the tunnel between the Rosslyn and Foggy Bottom
Metrorail stations. As part of the drill, emergency
personnel will be responding to the incident to find a scene representative
of hundreds of injured passengers and multiple fatalities.
Metro operations, emergency management and police personnel will respond
along with police, fire and emergency medical services personnel from
Arlington County, the District of Columbia, City of Alexandria, Fairfax
County, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Conservative
Blogger Calls For Obama's Assassination On Twitter
21 Mar 2010 Earlier today, self-described conservative blogger Solomon
"Solly" Forell posted a tweet that included a
call for assassination, as well as this line: "We'll surely get over
a bullet 2 Barack Obama's head!" It gets worse: Forell then followed that
tweet up with this one: "The next American with a Clear Shot should
drop Obama like a bad habit. 4get Blacks or his claim 2 b black... TCOT
[Top Conservatives on Twitter]."

Secret
Service Investigating Obama Assassination Tweets 21 Mar 2010 As
Congress entered the final round of debate Sunday over the controversial
health insurance reform bill, a self-described conservative blogger [Soloman
(Solly) Forell] used his public Twitter account to urge the assassination
of President Barack Obama. U.S. Secret Service spokesperson Max Milien
confirms to DailyFinance: "We are aware of the actual posting and
are actively investigating."

College
grad posts Obama assassination threats on Twitter
--Jay Martin, 2009 grad of Vatterott College, is now backtracking after
four tweets threatening to kill President Barack Obama
22 Mar 2010 According to Gawker,
Jay Martin, who graduated with an IT degree from Vatterott College, expressed
his discontent over the government’s plans for health care reform by threatening
to murder President Barack Obama not once, not twice, not even for the
hat trick at three times, but on four separate occasions.

Gates
admits concerns on US assassins in S. Asia 22 Mar 2010 The US
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says he is concerned "in principle"
about the existence of an alleged private network of assassins in Afghanistan
and Pakistan run by the Pentagon. An earlier report by The New York Times
suggested that Michael Furlong, a Defense Department official, set up
a network of assassins that tracked and killed suspected militants in
the region under the guise of collecting intelligence. "Quite frankly,
in principle, I would have concerns about that but I don't know enough
to know whether... it took place and if so, whether there was value added,"
Gates said Monday in a joint press conference with his Canadian counterpart,
Peter MacKay, AFP reported.

Afghan
group in 'secret mission' 22 Mar 2010 A senior delegation representing
one of the main Afghan anti-government movements is in Kabul, Afghanistan's
capital, with a plan for peace talks with the Afghan government, a government
official has said. The Hezb-i-Islami group sent a delegation headed by
Qutbuddin Helal, a former prime minister and deputy to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar,
the group's leader, the official told Reuters news agency on Monday.

U.S.
Turns a Blind Eye to Opium in Afghan Town 20 Mar 2010 The effort
to win over Afghans on former Taliban turf in Marja has put American and
NATO commanders in the unusual position of arguing against opium
eradication, pitting them against some Afghan officials who are pushing
to destroy the harvest. From Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal on down, the military’s
position is clear: "U.S. forces no longer eradicate," as one
NATO official put it. American Marines occupying the area are under orders
to leave the farmers’ CIA-backed druglords' fields alone. [That's
why the US is in Afghanistan: to keep the opium and gas pipelines flowing.]

CIA
chief authorizes every drone strike
22 Mar 2010 CIA Chief Leon Panetta has said the US counter terrorism polices
in Pakistan are legal and highly effective and that he is acutely aware
of the gravity of some of the decisions thrust upon him. In an interview
Wednesday at CIA headquarters, Panetta refused to directly address the
matter of Predator strikes, in keeping with the agency’s long-standing
practice of shielding its actions in Pakistan from public view... Panetta
authorizes every strike [war crime], sometimes reversing his decision
or reauthorizing a target if the situation on the ground changes, according
to current and former senior intelligence officials.

US
drone strike kills five in NW Pakistan: security officials 22
Mar 2010 Missiles fired from US drones Sunday killed at least five militants
in a restive Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan, security officials
said. "A US drone fired two missiles on a militant compound near the Pakistan-Afghanistan
border. At least five militants were killed," a senior security official
told AFP.

Two
NATO Soldiers Killed In Afghanistan 22 Mar 2010 Two members of
the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were killed
today in separate bomb explosions in southern Afghanistan. A statement
by NATO did not reveal the nationalities of the soldiers, nor did it say
where exactly in the southern region the attacks took place.

UK
soldier from 3 Rifles killed in Afghanistan blast 22 Mar 2010
A British soldier has been killed in an explosion in Afghanistan, the
Ministry of Defence has announced. The soldier was from A Company, 3rd
Battalion The Rifles, serving as part of the 3 Rifles Battle Group. The
explosion happened in an area 3km (1.9 miles) south of Sangin in Helmand
province on Monday morning.

Request
for Iraq recount rejected 22 Mar 2010 The head of Iraq's electoral
commission yesterday rejected calls from Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister,
for a recount in the hotly contested general election. Mr Maliki, who
is facing intense competition in his attempt to be re-elected, issued
a statement late on Saturday saying a recount was needed to "maintain
the credibility of the elections".

Defense
contractors turning gaze abroad --'Buy American' loophole is big enough
for Navistar to drive armored truck through 22 Mar 2010 Only weeks
after landing a $752 million Pentagon order for 1,050 armored trucks,
Navistar International will close its massive Indianapolis iron foundry
in April, dismiss the final 130 workers, and then most likely buy iron
engine parts for the military trucks from a Mexican foundry. Although
the jobless rate in Indiana remains stubbornly high, Pentagon rules don't
prevent Navistar's use of imported castings. Indeed, buying abroad is
a course long permitted for defense contractors -- a move that now haunts
American workers.

Top
US lawmaker: Iran sanctions coming soon
22 Mar 2010 The US Congress will soon take "final action" to approve tough
new sanctions on Iran over its refusal to freeze its suspect nuclear weapon,
a top Democratic lawmaker said Monday. "We can't expect a change of
heart from a regime founded in violence, and in violent disregard for
world opinion [the US] -- but we can demand
a change of behavior," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told the
potent AIPAC pro-Israel lobby group.

Israeli
aircraft take out Palestinian house, injure 4 23 Mar 2010 Israeli
shells have hit a residence in the Gaza Strip, inflicting injuries on
four Palestinians including a woman, a report says. Shrapnel from the
projectiles fired from Israeli aircraft caused the casualties east of
the Gaza City in the early hours of Tuesday, Palestinian security officials
and witnesses said, AFP reported.

Clinton
vows 'personal commitment' to Israel's security 22 Mar 2010 The
United States Secretary of State says Israel's security has always been
an unwavering policy for the White House. Addressing the annual policy
conference of the powerful Israeli political pressure group American Israel
Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Washington, Hillary Clinton described
US support for Israel's security and future as "rock solid, unwavering,
enduring and forever."

Clinton:
new Israeli construction hurts peace 22 Mar 2010 Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton says new Israeli construction on land claimed
by the Palestinians threatens peace efforts and undermines America's ability
to help end the Arab-Israeli conflict. Speaking to the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee on Monday, Clinton says that Israel's recent
announcement of new housing in east Jerusalem exposed differences between
the U.S. and the Jewish state that others could exploit. The Obama administration
strongly criticized the step.

EU
official to Israel: Jerusalem is not Tel Aviv 22 Mar 2010 European
Union foreign ministers met in Brussels on Monday to look for ways to
pressure Israelis and Palestinians into launching proxy peace talks, amidst
fears that the peace process is in jeopardy. Israel's decision last week
to approve the building of 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem outraged
international opinion and sparked concerns as to whether peace talks could
still be viable.

6
Anti-War Protesters to Spend Weekend In Jail 21 Mar 2010 Activist
Cindy Sheehan and five other anti-war protesters are spending the rest
of the weekend in jail after being arrested outside the White House. A
total of eight people were arrested after laying coffins at a White House
fence at the end of Saturday's anti-war march. Sgt. David Schlosser says
two people were released, but the other six had to stay in jail because
they have out-of-state addresses. [!?!] They'll be arraigned Monday in
D.C. Superior Court.

Senate
panel approves financial overhaul bill 22 Mar 2010 The Senate
Banking Committee approved far-reaching legislation on Monday to [pretend
to] overhaul the nation's financial regulatory system by a 13-10 vote
along party lines. The swift approval marked an abrupt shift from the
course set for the legislation after its unveiling last week by committee
Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), who had said he planned to spend
the week considering revisions. The move was strongly supported by Obama
administration officials, who are eager to move the long-stalled process
forward.

Obama
to sign health-care bill into law Tuesday 22 Mar 2010 President
Obama will sign landmark health-care legislation into law Tuesday without
waiting for the Senate to deal with a package of revisions that was also
approved by the House late Sunday, administration officials said.

Tea
party protesters say they've only just begun 22 Mar 2010 "Kill
Obamacare" was a rallying cry that drew thousands of small-government
Americans to the fledgling "tea party" movement last year. As the president's
plan now becomes law, tea party activists say they don't intend to lose
any momentum. Instead, they see this defeat as triggering a broader call
to action. They're moving the health care fight to individual states,
urging them to try to opt out of the overhaul or challenge its provisions
in court. They're also expanding campaigns against incumbent lawmakers
who face November elections across the country.

Texas
lawmaker: I yelled 'It's a baby killer' 22 Mar 2010 Texas Rep.
Randy Neugebauer says he was the Republican House member who called out
"baby killer" during the chamber's debate Sunday night on the health care
reform bill. Neugebauer issued a statement Monday apologizing for the
outburst. His statement said he called out, "It's a baby killer," in reference
to the last-minute deal between Michigan Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak and
the White House that secured the support of Stupak and other anti-abortion
Democrats for the health care bill.

Stupak
Called "Baby Killer" for Backing Bill
21 Mar 2010 An unknown [quote, unquote] person yelled out "baby killer"
while Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) was speaking on the House floor Sunday evening.
Stupak announced Sunday afternoon that he would back the Senate bill despite
his strong opposition to abortion rights.

Republicans
Vow Repeal Effort Against Health Bill22
Mar 2010 As jubilant Democrats prepared for President Obama to sign their
landmark health care legislation with a big ceremony at the White House,
Republicans on Monday opened a campaign to repeal the legislation and
to use it as a weapon in this year’s hotly contested midterm elections.
"We will not allow this to stand," Representative Michele Bachman,
Republican of Minnesota, promised Monday afternoon as the House reconvened.

Florida
says several states to file healthcare lawsuit 22 Mar 2010 Florida's
attorney general will file a lawsuit with nine other state attorneys general
opposing the healthcare legislation passed by Congress, a spokeswoman
said on Monday. "The health care reform legislation passed by the U.S.
House of Representatives last night clearly violates the U.S. Constitution
and infringes on each state's sovereignty," Florida Attorney General Bill
McCollum, a Republican, said in a prepared statement announcing a news
conference.

House
Approves Health Overhaul, Sending Landmark Bill to Obama 22 Mar
2010 House Democrats approved a far-reaching overhaul of the nation’s
health system on Sunday, voting over unanimous Republican opposition to
provide medical coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans after
an epic political battle that could define the differences between the
parties for years. With the 219-to-212 vote, the House gave final approval
to legislation passed by the Senate on Christmas Eve. Thirty-four Democrats
joined Republicans in voting against the bill. The vote sent the measure
to President Obama, whose yearlong push for the legislation has been the
centerpiece of his agenda and a test of his political power.

An
attack on health care in the guise of reform By Kate Randall 22
March 2010 The vote Sunday night by the US House of Representatives to
approve Obama’s health care overhaul was accompanied by declarations that
the measure represents the greatest social reform in generations... After
months of closed-door negotiations with insurance CEOs and pharmaceutical
executives, Obama made the absurd claim that the measure came "from
the bottom up." In fact, the legislation
was entirely dictated from the top. It represents the opening
shot in a sweeping attack on health care for working people. A staggering
level of cynicism has been exhibited throughout the so-called health care
"debate." Evasions and outright lies have been utilized to conceal
the real content of the bill... In the end, what decided the bill’s
passage was pressure brought to bear by the White House, acting on behalf
of the most powerful sections of the financial elite.

Climate
change threatens most bird species 12 Mar 2010 Climate change
poses a threat to 93 percent of Hawaii's bird species, said a report from
ornithologists and environmental groups. Birds on Pacific and Caribbean
islands are more susceptible to climate change because of their inability
to move to new locations, said the report titled "The State of the Birds:
2010 Report on Climate Change."

*****

Under
the guise of health care reform aka anti-democratic, wholesale giveaway
to the insurance cartel:U.S.
may expand use of its prison in Afghanistan --The White House is considering
housing international terrorism suspects at Bagram air base, as
is done at Guantanamo Bay. 21 Mar 2010 The White House is considering
whether to detain international terrorism suspects at a U.S. military
base in Afghanistan, senior U.S. officials said, an option that would
lead to another prison with the same purpose as Guantanamo Bay, which
it has promised to close. Although it has been known for some
time that the administration was seeking options other than Guantanamo
for holding existing prisoners, it has not been reported previously that
it was considering Bagram for suspected terrorists that might be captured
in the future. [Did anyone else notice that Obama's soaring
oratory returned only *AFTER* he ensured that the public option would
not be included in the corporaterrorist bailout bill? As soon as Obusha
knew that the insurance cartel would be safely ensconced in endless profiteering
with no end in sight, he started to give great speeches for the need for
quote, unquote health care reform. --LRP]

Taliban
say 8 US soldiers killed in Afghanistan 21 Mar 2010 At least 8
US soldiers have been killed in two separate bomb blasts in the eastern
province of Khost in Afghanistan, Taliban claimed Sunday. Taliban militants
said two roadside bombs targeted convoys of US forces in the region, leaving
at least 8 American soldiers killed.

Taliban
controlling Marjah by night 18 Mar 2010 Militants are regaining
control of Marjah, residents have reported, less than a month after Western
military officials claimed to have seized the Afghan town from the Taliban.
Marjah is now home to an occupation force numbering more than one Nato
soldier or Afghan police officer for every eight residents. But militants
are stepping up an underground campaign against officials loyal to the
Western-backed Karzai regime.

Blackwater
is a busy little bee! Afghanistan
blast 'kills 10' in Helmand province 21 Mar 2010 Ten people have
been killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province,
officials say. The victims were civilians, killed as a suicide
bomber targeted an Afghan army convoy on a bridge, a spokesman for the
provincial government said.

Special
Forces now Report to McChrystal 16 Mar 2010 Most of the U.S. Special
Operations forces in Afghanistan now are under direct control of Gen.
Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in that country said. McChrystal
said the decision to bring most of the special operations troops under
his control was made in response to high civilian casualties and reports
the Special Forces troops were operating as cowboys [well, war criminals],
The New York Times reported Tuesday.

US
drone attack kills 4 in Pakistan 21 Mar 2010 Missiles fired from
US drones Sunday killed at least four militants in a restive Pakistani
tribal area bordering Afghanistan, security officials said. According
to Pakistani officials, the missiles targeted a compound located west
of Miranshah in the North Waziristan tribal region. The death toll is
expected to rise as some of the injured are said to be in critical condition.

Clashes
leave 32 dead in NW Pakistan 21 Mar 2010 At least 32 people have
been killed and several others injured in two separate incidents in troubled
northwestern Pakistan. On Saturday, the Pakistani army helicopters bombed
what officials called five militant training camps in the Orakzai tribal
area, killing at least 10 people and injuring several others, the Press
TV correspondent reported.

US-style
election theft and vote fraud brought to Iraq with its puppet oil dictatorship:
Iraq:
Request for ballot recount denied
21 Mar 2010 Iraq's electoral commission said Sunday it would not recount
votes from the March 7 parliamentary election, despite accusations of
fraud and requests for a manual recount from Iraq's president and prime
minister. The 95 percent of votes that have been counted show that Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who appealed to a largely Shiite base, is in
the lead in a very tight race with Ayad Allawi, whose constituency is
largely made up of Sunni Arabs, for the largest electoral bloc in Iraq's
future parliament.

Iraq
War protesters gather near AirFest 2010 at MacDill Air Force Base
20 Mar 2010 (Tampa, FL) Protestors against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
used the popularity of the MacDill Airfest as a way to spread their message
Saturday. Members of Veterans for Peace sponsored a vigil for peace. For
about four hours, they held signs at the corner of Dale Mabry Highway
and Gandy Boulevard near MacDill Airforce Base. Saturday is the anniversary
of the start of the Iraq War.

Blair's
secret oil links to Mideast revealed --Blair allowed to keep details
of deals from public since June 2008 20 Mar 2010 A watchdog in Britain
has revealed that former UK Premier Tony Blair has secretly received cash
from a South Korean energy company and from Kuwaiti royals. The Advisory
Committee on Business Appointments says Tony Blair has been receiving
cash from the Kuwaiti government and the South Korean UI Energy Corporation
which has oil interests in the US and Iraq. The Advisory Committee had
allowed Blair to keep details of both deals from the public for 20 months,
since June 2008, as the former prime minister claimed the deals were commercially
sensitive.

2nd
mystery 'hit' --Israeli jet flyover amid Hungary slay19 Mar 2010
In a possible sequel to the Dubai assassination, Israeli
spy planes flew uninvited and unannounced over Budapest the same day a
Syrian man was shot to death in his car, Hungarian media reported
yesterday. Two Israeli air force Gulfstream V-type jets, equipped with
sophisticated intelligence gear, flew more than 1,300 miles over Turkey,
Bulgaria and Romania on Wednesday before flying over eastern Budapest
and then disappearing, the reports said. The incident occurred the same
day Budapest police said a 52-year-old Syrian was gunned down while stopping
his black luxury car at a traffic light on the east side of the capital.

Report:
Jerusalem drops more construction to avoid U.S. tensions 21 Mar
2010 The Jerusalem municipality has canceled a meeting scheduled for Monday
regarding the expansion of a neighborhood in East Jerusalem, according
to Army Radio. The municipality would not explain why it has postponed
the meeting, but members of the Jerusalem District Building and Planning
Committee told Army Radio that the decision was made to avoid tensions
during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington this week.

IDF
kills Palestinian teen --IDF forces clash with Palestinians at village
near Nablus; 16-year-old boy dies after being shot in stomach, another
teen in critical condition; Army says it used crowd dispersal means to
quell rioters heading to settlement 20 Mar 2010 A 16-year-old boy
was killed Saturday and a 19-year-old Palestinian sustained grave head
wounds in clashes between IDF troops and Palestinians in a village near
Nablus. Army officials said dozens of rocks were hurled at the forces,
which were forced to respond with crowd dispersal means.However, doctors
in Nablus said the killed teen was hurt by live ammunition.

UC
Berkeley student senate votes in favor of divestment 19 March
2010 Early yesterday morning, the University of California Berkeley Student
Senate (ASUC) passed a bill to divest from companies that provide military
support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Debate began the night
before at 9:00pm and ended and six hours later when the vote was held
at 3:00am... Ultimately, the bill passed with 16 senators in favor and
4 against.

Partial
results show French left wins regions vote
21 Mar 2010 France's opposition Socialists and their allies handily defeated
President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservatives in regional elections Sunday,
according to partial official results after a vote that helps set the
stage for the 2012 presidential race. With 80.2 percent of ballots counted,
the Socialist Party and its allies won 53.7 percent of the overall national
vote, according to the Interior Ministry.

Dozens
arrested as anti-Muslim English Defence League protestors battle rivals
20 Mar 2010 Riot police battled to control thousands of rival demonstrators
taking part in an ill-tempered city centre protest organised by a controversial
right-wing group. Hundreds of officers, some horse-mounted and armed with
batons, separated supporters of the English Defence League (EDL) and members
of Unite Against Fascism (UAF). Two officers were injured following ugly
clashes... A police helicopter was also dispatched to assist the officers
on the ground. There was a total of 67 arrests, 55 of which were UAF supporters
and the remaining 12 EDL, police said. [Notice the racist UK police
arrested a lot more anti-fascist demonstrators and allowed the anti-Muslim
Nazis to run rampant?]

UK
anti-militant project stirs Muslim unease
20 Mar 2010 A British anti-radicalization campaign called Prevent is a
pressing priority in the European country experts see as the most at risk
from Al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh] attack. But to listen to its critics, the project,
aimed mainly at Muslim communities, might more accurately be named Provoke.
Security officials are struggling to stem a tide of unease among Muslim
communities about the program, which seeks among other things to identify
people most vulnerable to recruitment by Al-Qaeda-aligned groups and wean
them away from extremism.

Homeland
Security seeking clearance to fly drones over Texas 20 Mar 2010
The federal government may soon send unmanned aircraft to scour West Texas
and the state's coastal waters in an effort to 'boost border security,'
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a letter to
the governor sent Friday. Governor Rick Perry (R) had formally requested
the assistance a week ago. Homeland Security has six drones and is working
with the Federal Aviation Administration to get the necessary clearance
to begin flying over Texas, Napolitano wrote.

Paper
in China Sets Off Alarms in U.S. 20 Mar 2010 Larry M. Wortzel,
a military strategist and China specialist, told the House Foreign Affairs
Committee on March 10 that it should be concerned because "Chinese
researchers at the Institute of Systems Engineering of Dalian University
of Technology published a paper on how to attack a small U.S. power grid
sub-network in a way that would cause a cascading failure of the entire
U.S." When reached by telephone, Wang Jianwei [a graduate engineering
student in Liaoning, China] said he and his professor had indeed published
"Cascade-Based
Attack Vulnerability on the U.S. Power Grid" in an international
journal called Safety Science last spring. But Mr. Wang said he had simply
been trying to find ways to enhance the stability of power grids by exploring
potential vulnerabilities. ['Alarms set off in U.S.' Translation: The
corporaterrorists want their trolls in Congress want to deregulate the
electricity industry and make a killing on pseudo-security measures.]

World
votes to continue trading in species on verge of extinction 19
Mar 2010 Their sheer size and strength have made them among the most celebrated
of endangered species, yet they have all been
betrayed -- by vested interests at a UN meeting on wildlife
protection. Proposals to ban trade in bluefin tuna and polar bears were
overwhelmingly rejected yesterday at the Convention on International Trade
in Endangered Species (Cites), meeting in Doha, Qatar.

New
safeguards for polar bears voted down at CITES meeting
--Defenders of Wildlife fears trade will lead to continued population
declines for species threatened by climate change
--The United States proposal would have banned
the international commercial trade in polar bear parts and products--During debate, virtually all parties agreed with the serious
threat posed to the polar bear’s survival by climate change DOHA, Qatar
18 Mar 2010 Defenders of Wildlife expressed its disappointment today over
the decision by the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) not to give greater
protection to the polar bear.

'We're
well past 216 now.' Stupak
to Vote Yes on Health Care Bill21
Mar 1010 Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan, a strong opponent of
abortion rights, has decided to vote in favor of the House version of
the health care bill despite his objections to its language on abortion.
"We've been able to come up with an agreement to respect the sanctity
of life on health care reform," Stupak said at an afternoon press conference,
where he was joined by like-minded lawmakers.

'We
will be part of history.' Democratic
leadership: "We've got the votes" 21 Mar 2010 As the House prepares
to convene this afternoon for action on President Barack Obama's long-pursued
overhaul of 'healthcare,' the House's Democratic leadership is voicing
confidence in passage of the bill. "We've got the votes,'' said Rep. John
Larson (D-Conn.) in an appearance this morning on CNN's State of the Union.
"This is a [sic] historic day, and we are happy warriors,'' Larson said.
"We will be a part of history, joining Franklin Delano Roosevelt's passage
of Social Security, Lyndon Johnson's passage of Medicare and now Barack
Obama's passage of healthcare.''

Republicans
denounce racist and anti-gay slurs 21 Mar 2010 Following reports
yesterday that black and openly gay Democratic lawmakers were subjected
to spitting and epithets from anti-health care reform protesters outside
the Capitol, Republican leaders said Sunday that the incidents were "isolated"
and "reprehensible." On CNN's "State of the Union," Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.)
denounced the use of such slurs "in the strongest terms." House Minority
Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that the
"isolated incidents" were "reprehensible."

Tea
party protesters scream 'nigger' at black congressman 20 Mar 2010
Demonstrators outside the U.S. Capitol, angry over the proposed health
care bill, shouted "nigger" Saturday at U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia
congressman and civil rights icon who was nearly beaten to death during
an Alabama march in the 1960s. Protesters also shouted obscenities at
other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, spat on at least one
black lawmaker and confronted an openly gay congressman with taunts. Capitol
Police escorted the members of Congress into the Capitol after the confrontation.

Protester
spits on Rep. Cleaver 20 Mar 2010 A congressman who was spat on
by a protestor on Capitol Hill says he is declining to press charges,
but turns out the Capitol Police say they made no arrests. Missouri Democrat
Emanuel Cleaver was making his way through a group of angry protestors
when the incident occurred. Cleaver, who is black, was also one of several
lawmakers who faced racial epithets as they walked to the Capitol to vote.

Brick
thrown through window of Rep. Slaughter's office
19 Mar 2010 The "Slaughter Solution" on health care isn't the only thing
that has come under attack in U.S. Rep. Louise M. Slaughter's world this
week. Sometime early this morning, someone threw a brick through the front
window of her Pine Avenue office. The damage was discovered about 12:30
a.m., city police said. Slaughter, D-Fairport, NY, is head of the House
Rules Committee, which will structure the debate on health care reform
votes set for this weekend.

'I
heard people saying things that I have not heard since March 15, 1960
when I was marching to try and get off the back of the bus.'Members
of Congress Called 'Ni**er,' 'Fa**ot,' Spat On By Tea Party Protesters
20 Mar 2010 Abusive, derogatory and even racist behavior directed at House
Democrats by Tea Party protesters on Saturday left several lawmakers in
shock. Preceding the president's speech to a gathering of House Democrats,
thousands of protesters descended around the Capitol to protest the passage
of health care reform. The gathering quickly turned into abusive heckling,
as members of Congress passing through Longworth House office building
were subjected to epithets and even mild physical abuse. A staffer for
Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told reporters that Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.)
had been spat on by a protester. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a hero of the
civil rights movement, was called a 'ni--er.' And Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.)
was called a "faggot," as protestors shouted at him with deliberately
lisp-y screams. Clyburn said he had not witnessed such treatment since
he was leading civil rights protests in South Carolina in the 1960s.

Tea
Partiers Call Lewis 'N****r', Frank 'F****t', At Capitol Hill Protest
By Brian Beutler 20 Mar 2010 Civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis (D-GA)
and fellow Congressional Black Caucus member Andre Carson (D-IN) related
a particularly jarring encounter with a large crowd of [tea party and
anti-healthcare] protesters on screaming "kill the bill"... and punctuating
their chants with the word "nigger." Standing next to Lewis, emerging
from a Democratic caucus meeting with President Obama, Carson said people
in the crowd yelled, "kill the bill and then
the N-word" several times, while he and Lewis were exiting
the Canon House office building.

State
of the health care debate: Talk radio attacks an 11-year old 18
Mar 2010 Conservative talk show hosts and columnists have ridiculed an
11-year-old Washington state boy's account of his mother's death as a
"sob story" exploited by the White House and congressional Democrats like
a "kiddie shield" to defend their health care legislation. Marcelas Owens,
whose mother got sick, lost her job, lost her health insurance and died,
said Thursday he's taking the attacks from [sociopaths] Rush Limbaugh,
Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin in stride.

Fact
Sheet: The Truth About the Health Care Bill
By Jane Hamsher 19 Mar 2010 [We] ...have come up with 18 often stated
myths about this health care reform bill. Real health care reform is the
thing we’ve fought for from the start. It is desperately needed. But this
bill falls short on many levels, and hurts many people more than it helps...
2. Insurance companies hate this bill - This bill is almost identical
to the plan written by AHIP, the insurance company trade association,
in 2009. The original Senate Finance Committee
bill was authored by a former Wellpoint VP. Since Congress
released the first of its health care bills on October 30, 2009, health
care stocks have risen 28.35%.

Grand
jury subpoenas GOP in Ensign probe 20 Mar 2010 A federal grand
jury has issued subpoenas to a Republican campaign committee and Nevada
firms in a probe of Sen. John Ensign, under scrutiny for his efforts to
find lobbying work for the husband of his former mistress. One subpoena
went to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, formerly chaired
by Mr. Ensign, R-Nev., committee spokesman Brian Walsh said. A Las Vegas
TV station reported Thursday that grand jury subpoenas in the Ensign probe
went to six Las Vegas businesses it did not name.

Credit
Card Firm: We Were Subpoenaed By Feds In Ensign Case 19 Mar 2010
Here's a statement from eCommLink, one of the Nevada companies at the
center of the mushrooming John Ensign investigation, acknowledging that
it has received a subpoena from the Justice Department: 'eCommLink, like
a number of other Nevada companies, has received subpoenas regarding the
Federal investigation of Senator John Ensign. We are cooperating fully
in this investigation.' KLAS-TV reported yesterday that the company, and
other credit card firms, contributed to Ensign's NRSC in exchange for
Ensign's help in fighting new regulations.

*****

Synagogue
Bomb Suspects: Feds Badgered Us to Do It --Lawyers:
Alleged NY bomb plot 'hatched and directed' by federal informant 19
Mar 2010 Defense attorneys say an alleged
plot to bomb New York synagogues was hatched and directed by a federal
informant. Lawyers for four men from Newburgh have filed a motion to dismiss
the terror indictment against them. They said the informant badgered the
defendants until they got involved in the plot. They said the informant
chose the targets, supplied fake bombs for the synagogues and a fake missile
to shoot down planes. The motion said he also offered to pay the
defendants, who attorneys alleged weren't inclined toward any crime
until the informant began recruiting them.

Links
with torture countries to go on 18 Mar 2010 Britain must continue
to work with international intelligence agencies in the fight against
terrorism even if they are not committed to UK standards on the abuse
or torture of detainees, the Foreign Office has warned. In its annual
report on human rights around the world published last night, the Foreign
Office said the UK could not afford the "luxury" of co-operating only
with agencies in countries which do not share UK standards on human rights.

MI5
and MI6 have to deal with torturers, government says --The security
services "cannot afford the luxury" of dealing only with countries
which respect human rights, the government has said. 17 Mar 2010 A
report by the Foreign Office said the government could not "reduce
the risk to zero" of torture or mistreatment at the hands of foreign
powers but had to use intelligence gained from such methods to save British
lives. [?!?] The department’s annual report on human rights said the Government
has been "absolutely clear that the UK stands firmly against torture
and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment." But it
added: "We cannot always have that same level of assurance when [prisoners]
are held overseas by foreign governments."

UK
has 5,700 "secret agents" --Britain employs more than 2,200 spies
to 'protect the country' against terrorism and the threat from foreign
enemies, it has been disclosed. 18 Mar 2010 It is the first time that
the number of foreign intelligence gathering officers employed by MI6,
also known as the Secret Intelligence Service, has been published. The
figure was disclosed yesterday in the annual report of the parliamentary
Intelligence and Security Committee. According to the ISC’s report, there
are now 2,252 MI6 officers and it aims to increase that to 2,527 this
year.

Russians
Give Message to U.S. Generals in Afghanistan: Bribe the Taliban --Minutes
of Secret Meeting Between Russian Veterans and Gen. Stanley McChrystal
Also Say 'More Troops Won't Make a Difference' 18 Mar 2010 Two Russian
veterans of the Soviet Afghan war privately warned Gen. Stanley McChrystal
last summer that the key to winning the war would be to pay off the Taliban.
The official who wrote a summary of two meetings between the Russians
and U.S. military commanders also wrote that one of the "key take-aways"
from the meetings was that extra troops were not the key to victory. ABCNews.com
has obtained a document summarizing the discussions between two veterans
of the Soviet Union's failed Afghan war and McChrystal, the top U.S. general
in Afghanistan, during an August 2009 video teleconference. [USociopaths
are already doing that. See:US
to pay Taliban fighters to 'lay down their arms' 23 Jan 2010.]

Defense
official says Afghan 'track and kill' program was authorized 19
Mar 2010 Michael D. Furlong, the senior Defense Department employee under
investigation for allegedly running an unauthorized intelligence-gathering
[and track and kill] operation in Afghanistan, says his now-suspended
program was fully authorized by top U.S. military commanders. According
to Furlong, the program, which began in late 2008, was requested by Army
Gen. David D. McKiernan, the former top U.S. commander in Afghanistan,
and approved by the U.S. Central Command.

Taliban
rises again in Kunduz, forcing more U.S. troops toward north 18
Mar 2010 The past year has brought such a dramatic Taliban comeback in
Kunduz that Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO forces
in Afghanistan, is planning to shift some of the ongoing troop reinforcements
to the north of the country, the first significant U.S. deployment to
the region since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, U.S. officials
say.

14
Palestinians injured in Gaza strike 19 Mar 2010 Palestinian sources
in Gaza reported Friday that the Air Force (IAF) bombed targets near the
airport in the southern Strip, injuring 14 people, two of them severely.
The IDF stated that it had bombed a Hamas facility in Dahaniyeh, in response
to the Qassam rocket fire towards Israel earlier Friday. Palestinian witnesses
say four missiles were fired at structures on the airport grounds and
that rescue forces were having trouble evacuating victims due to IAF activity
in the area.

Israeli
soldiers arrest five Palestinian children 19 Mar 2010 Israeli
soldiers detain five Palestinian children in the West Bank city of Hebron
(al-Khalil) after clashes break out. The soldiers claim that the children
were pelting stones at a building inside the Beit Romano settlement on
Thursday during clashes in the West Bank city of al-Khalil. But the parents
of the arrested children complain that "the children were playing football
in front of their house when suddenly the soldiers came and arrested them."

Heads
up! US trolling for Yemen's oil: Yemen
preacher urges jihad on United States 18 Mar 2010 A U.S.-born
radical cleric linked to shootings at a U.S. army base and the failed
bombing of a U.S. plane appeared to urge Muslims to conduct a jihad against
the United States in an audiotape heard on Thursday. U.S. counterterrorism
officials said in late February they were considering adding Anwar al-Awlaki
to the U.S. target list to kill or capture top militants if he appeared
to pose a direct security threat. He is believed to be living in southern
Yemen.

Gay
Dutch soldiers responsible for Srebrenica massacre says US general
19 Mar 2010 A Former American general [whackjob] blamed "open homosexuality"
in the Dutch army for the failure to prevent the Srebrenica massacre in
1995. The Dutch government condemned the comments by Gen John Sheehan,
a former NATO commander and senior Marine officer, as outrageous. Gen
Sheehan made the remarks at a Senate hearing where he argued against plans
by President Barack Obama to end a ban on allowing gays to serve openly
in the US military.

Secret
Document Calls Wikileaks 'Threat' to U.S. Army
By David Kravets 15 Mar 2010 Wikileaks presents a "threat to the
U.S. Army" and publishes "potentially actionable information"
for targeting military personnel, according to a classified intelligence
report posted Monday on the whistleblowing site. The 32-page report entitled
Wikileaks.org
- An Online Reference to Foreign Intelligence Services, Insurgents, or
Terrorist Groups? indicates the government’s concern that "current
employees or moles" within the Defense Department or the U.S. government
"are providing sensitive or classified information to Wikileaks."
To stop this, the 2008 report had suggested a campaign to expose and punish
those who leak to the site, which was founded in 2007 by Chinese dissidents,
journalists and mathematicians.

U.S.
Woman Charged in Terror Plot Pleads Not Guilty
18 Mar 2010 The Pennsylvania woman accused of recruiting men on the Internet
to wage jihad in southern Asia and Europe pleaded not guilty Thursday
to all counts in federal court in Philadelphia. The authorities say the
woman, Colleen R. LaRose, is a terrorist sympathizer known by her Internet
name, "JihadJane," and had expressed a desire to become a martyr
for an Islamist cause. According to a federal indictment unsealed this
month, Ms. LaRose, 46, was intent on killing a Swedish artist who depicted
the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog.

Antiwar
coalition fined by US government
19 Mar 2010 A US antiwar organization says it has been targeted by the
government because it wants US troops to immediately return from Afghanistan
and Iraq. The ANSWER Coalition, which stands for "Act Now to Stop War
and End Racism," has been a staunch critic of the Bush and Obama administrations
for their role in the Iraqi and Afghan war. "The government is increasingly
trying to limit or eviscerate or criminalize grassroots organizing itself",
said Brian Becker from the ANSWER Coalition, Reported Press TV's Colin
Campbell.

'He
is also now persona non grata in Barack Obama's supposedly more
open and transparent United States.'U.S.
Revokes Visa of Irish Anti-Renditions Activist By Jeff Kaye 16
Mar 2010 The North Carolina News Observer reports in a March 15 article
that the co-founder of ShannonWatch,
Edward Horgan, a well-known Irish activist and former Irish Defense Force
officer, has had his 10-year, multiple-entry U.S. visa revoked without
explanation. Horgan and others believe it is because of his principled
stand against the U.S. use of renditions, and in particular, the use of
Shannon Airport in western Ireland as a stopover for U.S. rendition flights.
ShannonWatch has documented
the use of the airport as a stopover for CIA rendition flights.

EFF
Appeals Dismissal of Warrantless Wiretapping Case By Cindy Cohn
19 Mar 2010 EFF today filed its appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
of the dismissal of Jewel
v. NSA, the case EFF brought against the U.S. government and government
officials on behalf of AT&T customers to stop the National Security Agency's
illegal, unconstitutional, and ongoing mass surveillance of their communications
and communications records. The case arises from the still growing stacks
of evidence
confirming the surveillance, including the technical
documents presented by former AT&T employee Mark
Klein that describe the NSA's secret mass wiretapping facility in
San Francisco.

Brown
calls anti-police booby traps in Riverside County 'urban terrorism'
18 Mar 2010 Describing it as "urban terrorism," California Atty. Gen.
Jerry Brown joined with Riverside County officials Thursday in asking
the public to help find those who tried at least three times to kill officers
assigned to a Hemet-based gang task force. "It is incredible and even
unprecedented for police officers here to be subject to terrorist attack,"
Brown said at a Riverside news conference. The attacks have involved booby
traps aimed at either the headquarters of the Hemet-San Jacinto Gang Task
Force or officers assigned to the unit, officials said.

'9/11
panel was warned not to probe too deeply' --Leaked confidential documents
have revealed that senior officials from the former US administration
had warned a 9/11 investigation panel against probing too deeply into
the terrorist attacks.
18 Mar 2010 In a letter obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU), the 9/11 Commission was refused permission to question terror
suspects, with the Bush administration arguing that by doing so the panel
would "cross" a "line" and obstruct the administration's efforts to protect
the nation. Citing the need to "Safeguard the national security, including
protection of Americans from [their] future terrorist attacks," the government
officials demanded the Commission not make further attempts at conducting
a deeper probe into the September 11 terror attacks. [Right, they didn't
want people to know that 9/11
was an inside job. Gibbs and DiNozzo would have had the investigation
wrapped up in the first 42 minutes of 'NCIS.'
Abby's mass spectrometer would reveal the explosive
residue in WTC 1, 2 and 'Lucky' Larry 'the
smartest thing to do is pull it' Silverstein's WTC
7 (not even hit by any planes), which was announced
on the BBC as having fallen about a half hour before it actually did fall.
Oops! McGee would analyze the insider trading (Pre-9/11
Put Options on Companies Hurt by Attack Indicates Foreknowledge) and
have the whole kit and caboodle delivered with lots of time remaining
for Tony and Ziva to do the flirt thing. I have an entire script penned.
CBS: Are you interested? --LRP, (hopefully) invoking humor/sarcasm, including
the script-writing comment, since those have been inquiring. It wouldn't
take me long, though!]

Federal
Judge Orders More Talks on 9/11 Deal 19 Mar 2010 The federal judge
[Alvin K. Hellerstein] overseeing litigation between the city and workers
at ground zero on Friday rejected a settlement reached by the two sides,
telling lawyers that it did not provide enough compensation to plaintiffs
and needed to be renegotiated under his supervision. It provided for payouts
of $575 million to $657.5 million in cases filed by some 10,000 rescue
and cleanup workers who say they suffered health damages from toiling
at ground zero after the 2001 terrorist attack.

Genetically
modified mosquitos could be used to spread vaccine for malaria --A
genetically engineered mosquito that vaccinates as it bites has been developed
by scientists. 19 Mar 2010 Experts believe "flying vaccinators" could
eventually be a radical new way of tackling malaria. The new approach
targets the salivary gland of the Anopheles mosquito. Scientists in Japan
have engineered an insect producing a natural vaccine protein in its saliva
which is injected into the bloodstream when it bites. [If this is the
'cover story,' what other projects and pandemics are underway by the Pentagon?]

Obama
effigy hung at RI school with fired teachers 18 Mar 2010 A teacher
at a failing school where he and all his colleagues are being fired hung
an effigy of President Barack Obama in his classroom, apparently in reaction
to Obama's support of extreme measures to ensure accountability in schools.
The teachers union on Thursday condemned the effigy, discovered Monday
in the teacher's third-floor classroom at Central Falls High School, saying
it was wrong and cannot be condoned under any circumstances.

Pope
'let molesting priest resume work' 19 Mar 2010 Pope Benedict XVI
has been accused of turning a deaf ear to repeated warnings about a pedophiliac
priest who was later convicted of carnal violation of theological pupils.
Werner Huth, the psychiatrist tasked with treating the German priest Peter
Hullermann, said on Thursday that he had audibly warned the current Pope
about the future convict's immorality, The New York Times reported.

Federal
Reserve Must Disclose Bank Bailout Records --Fed
must release records of unprecedented $2 trillion U.S. loan program
19 Mar 2010 The Federal Reserve Board must disclose documents identifying
financial firms that might have collapsed without the largest U.S. government
bailout ever, a federal appeals court said. The U.S. Court of Appeals
in Manhattan ruled today that the Fed must release records of the unprecedented
$2 trillion U.S. loan program launched primarily after the 2008 collapse
of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. The ruling upholds a decision of a lower-court
judge, who in August ordered that the information be released.

Fed
loses appeal; must disclose bailout details 19 Mar 2010 The Federal
Reserve will be required to identify the names of banks that could have
collapsed if not for the central bank's emergency lending, a federal appeals
court said Friday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in
New York ruled on Friday that the Fed needs to disclose documents in response
to Freedom of Information Act requests by Bloomberg L.P. and other news
organizations.

Top
Democrats predict Sunday passage 19 Mar 2010 Democratic leaders
are now confidently predicting victory in a Sunday health reform vote,
saying the party will have the 216 votes needed to pass President Barack
Obama’s top legislative priority by then. "We'll have the votes when the
roll is called," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters
Friday. The Democrats top vote-counter, Rep. Jim Clyburn, concurred. "I
feel very sure that we'll vote on this some time Sunday, and the bill
will pass," Clyburn said.

Democratic
leaders in fierce negotiations for 'yes' votes on health-care bill
19 Mar 2010 Democratic leaders worked feverishly Friday to round up the
votes they need to overhaul the nation's health-care system, as President
Obama delivered a feisty closing argument to thousands of youthful supporters
in Northern Virginia, declaring that "the time for reform is now."
[Right, too bad it's missing from the bill.] In a speech at George
Mason University in Fairfax, Obama predicted a "tough vote" Sunday in
the House of Representatives, where 216 votes are needed to approve the
health-care overhaul after more than a year of partisan wrangling.

Polar
bear protections rejected 18 Mar 2010 Delegates gathered in Doha,
Qatar for a global conference aimed at protecting imperiled species rejected
a proposal Thursday that would have banned international trophy hunting
and commercial trade in polar bear parts. The United States sponsored
the measure, arguing that it is critical to reduce hunting pressure on
polar bears at a time when their habitat is eroding due to melting sea
ice. [Too bad the polar bears are unable to shoot the sociopaths who
want to kill them in a 'trophy' hunt.]

US
troops can hold Afghan detainees for 14 days instead of four --Longer
detention 'an option' 17 Mar 2010 A controversial policy that gives
U.S. forces in Afghanistan four days to question detainees is being changed
to give soldiers more time to interrogate the captives, Gen. David Petraeus
said Tuesday. Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee that American
troops will now be able to hold detainees for up to 14 days before either
releasing them or turning them over to the Afghan government. In some
cases, longer detention will be an option, he said.

Afghanistan
confirms blanket pardon for war crimes 16 Mar 2010 Afghanistan
confirmed for the first time publicly on Tuesday that it had enacted into
law a blanket pardon for war crimes and human rights abuse carried out
before 2001. Human rights groups have expressed dismay that the law
appeared to have been enacted quietly, granting blanket immunity to members
of all armed factions for acts committed during decades of war before
the fall of the Taliban. President Hamid Karzai had promised not to sign
the National Stability and Reconciliation Law, when it was passed by parliament
in 2007. Human rights groups say they learned only this year that the
bill had been published in the official gazette, making it law.

US
officials make contradictory remarks on bin Laden 17 Mar 2010
Only a day after a top Obama administration official described the chances
of capturing al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh] leader Osama bin Laden alive as "infinitesimal",
the top US commander in Afghanistan says the military still wants to capture
him alive. Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday, Commander
of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal said the
US military would "certainly" try to capture bin Laden alive and "bring
him to justice.." The statement, however, appeared contradicting an earlier
comment by US Attorney General Eric Holder predicting that bin Laden will
never go on trial in the United States as he will not be brought in alive.

CIA
agent alleged to have met Bin Laden in July --French report claims
terrorist leader stayed in Dubai hospital01
Nov 2001 Two months before September 11 Osama bin Laden flew
to Dubai for 10 days for treatment at the American hospital, where he
was visited by the local CIA agent, according to the French newspaper
Le Figaro. Bin Laden is reported to have arrived in Dubai on July 4 from
Quetta in Pakistan with his own personal doctor, nurse and four bodyguards,
to be treated in the urology department. While there he was visited by
several members of his family and Saudi personalities, and the CIA. The
CIA chief was seen in the lift, on his way to see Bin Laden, and later,
it is alleged, boasted to friends about his contact. He was recalled to
Washington soon afterwards.

Heads
up!
An Obusha Friday-night-entering-a-holiday-weekend bad news dump looms.
When is Easter?Attorney
General Eric Holder Says 9/11 Trial Decision 'Weeks Away'17
Mar 2010 Attorney General Eric Holder predicted today it was unlikely
that [CIA
asset] Osama bin Laden would ever face a trial in the United States
since he would likely be killed [is
likely already dead]. Holder, appearing before a House Appropriations
subcommittee today, also announced that the Obama administration was "weeks
away" from reaching a decision on how -- and where -- to prosecute alleged
Sept. 11, 2001 mastermind patsy Khalid Sheik Mohammed. The attorney
general defended his decision to try Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators
before a civilian jury in New York City. [Right, but that was before
his conciliating, cowardly boss *caved.*]

Tehran
aiding al Qaeda links, Petraeus says 17 Mar 2010 Iran is assisting
'al Qaeda' by facilitating links between senior terrorist leaders and
affiliate groups, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East told
Congress on Tuesday. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the U.S.
Central Command, also said Iran's nuclear program is facing problems,
and as a result, Tehran is not expected to emerge with a nuclear weapon
this year.

10
killed in deadly US drone strike in Pakistan
17 Mar 2010 A US drone aircraft has fired several missiles into northwest
Pakistan, killing at least ten people and injuring several others. According
to Pakistani officials, the missiles targeted a compound located west
of Miranshah in the North Waziristan tribal region. The death toll is
expected to rise as some of the injured are said to be in critical condition.

Petraeus
paints bleak picture for Afghanistan in 2010
17 Mar 2010 The commander of US forces in the Middle East and Central
Asia says 2010 will be a difficult year for US-led forces in Afghanistan.
General David Petraeus told lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday that international
forces will be involved in intense fighting with the Taliban and will
face setbacks this year. He added that the US troop surge in Afghanistan
is unlikely to reduce violence in the Central Asian nation.

Two
British Soldiers Killed In Afghan Blast
17 Mar 2010 Two British soldiers have been killed in an explosion in Helmand,
Afghanistan. The troops were from 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment.
Spokesman for Task Force Helmand, Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield,
said the men were trying to clear 'insurgents' in the Musa Qala District
area.

UK
premier admits misleading Iraq war inquiry 17 Mar 2010 Britain's
Prime Minister Gordon Brown admitted on Wednesday that he provided false
information to the Iraq Inquiry during his recent testimony. When addressing
the question of adequate funding for the UK armed forces for their invasions
of Iraq and Afghanistan, Brown had told the Inquiry on March 5 that Britain's
military budget had been "rising in real terms every year."

Iraq:
Women Miss Saddam By Abdu Rahman and Dahr Jamail 12 Mar 2010 Under
Saddam Hussein, women in government got a year's maternity leave; that
is now cut to six months. Under the Personal Status Law in force since
Jul. 14, 1958, when Iraqis overthrew the British-installed monarchy, Iraqi
women had most of the rights that Western women do. Maha Sabria, professor
of political science at Al-Nahrain University in Baghdad, tells IPS that
the abduction of women "did not exist prior to the occupation. We find
that women lost their right to learn and their right to a free and normal
life, so Iraqi women are struggling with oppression and denial of all
their rights, more than ever before." [I think *everyone* misses Saddam,
except those directly profiting from the US illegal occupation-for-oil.]

Report:
US shipping arms ahead of strike on Iran --Expert: 'They are
gearing up totally for the destruction of Iran. US bombers are ready today
to destroy 10,000 targets in Iran in a few hours.' 17 Mar 2010 Hundreds
of powerful US "bunker-buster" bombs are being shipped from
California to the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean ahead
of a possible attack on Iran, The Herald reported
Wednesday. The Scottish newspaper said the American government signed
a contract in January to transport 10 ammunition containers to the island.
According to a cargo manifest from the US navy, this included 387 "Blu"
bombs used for blasting hardened or underground structures, The Herald
reported.

West
Bank street named for dead US activist
17 Mar 2010 Palestinians in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday
named a street after a US activist who was crushed to death by an Israeli
army bulldozer in a 2003 protest against house demolitions in Gaza. The
dedication ceremony was held on the seventh anniversary of Rachel Corrie's
death.

HHS
preparing to handle claims of harm from H1N1 vaccine 16 Mar 2010
The federal government has been getting letters from people saying they
plan to seek compensation for injuries caused by the injection, according
to the Department of Health and Human Services. As of March 11, HHS had
received letters from 106 people saying they plan to submit claims for
compensation benefits because of problems related to the vaccine, according
to David Bowman, a spokesman for HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration.

Five
Americans charged with terrorism in Pakistan 17 Mar 2010 A Pakistani
court has charged five young Americans with planning terrorist attacks
in the South Asian country and conspiring to wage war against nations
allied with Pakistan, their defence lawyer said. The men - all Muslims
from the Washington DC area - pleaded not guilty to a total of five charges,
the most severe of which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Chicago
man to plead guilty in terror case17 Mar 2010 After cooperating
with authorities for months, a key figure in the ongoing investigation
into the 2008 deadly terror attacks in Mumbai, India, plans to plead guilty
this week in federal court. Chicagoan David Headley, 49, has reached a
plea deal with government officials that will be made public Thursday
before U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber, Headley's lawyer John Theis
said Tuesday.

Jump
in inmates is biggest in U.S. --State prison population rose 5.3 percent
last year 17 Mar 2010 For the first time since 1972, the number of
inmates in state prisons in the U.S. has dropped. No thanks to Indiana.
Last year, the prison population dipped in 27 states, and a new report
to be released today says that drove an overall decrease of 0.4 percent.
But in Indiana, the prison population last year swelled by 5.3 percent,
the largest percentage increase of any state in the nation.

ABC
News: Study Shows Money Flooding into Campaigns for State Judgeships
--Justices Ginsburg, O'Connor Say Fundraising Could Corrupt System, Reform
is Needed 17 Mar 2010 In rare public remarks last week, U.S. Supreme
Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the money involved in electing
judges remains one of the most pressing concerns facing the American court
system. ...ABC News has obtained an advanced copy of a study showing the
amounts involved are unprecedented. In the past decade, candidates for
state judgeships raised more than $206 million, more than double the $83
million judges raised in the 1990s, according to the soon-to-be released
study by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law and Justice
at Stake, two non partisan groups that advocate for reforming the judicial
selection process.

Loud
Sex Justified Warrantless Search That Led to Drug Bust, Says Court
16 Mar 2010 Screaming too loud during sex can get you or your partner
arrested in New Jersey, thanks to an appeals court ruling handed down
on Monday. Affirming denial of a motion to suppress drugs found in a Farmingdale,
N.J., home, the judges said the screaming reported by a neighbor gave
police an objectively reasonable basis to believe that a limited investigation
was necessary to determine whether anyone was in need of aid. Even after
the occupants gave a plausible explanation -- that the cries were released
in the height of passion -- the potential for harm was sufficient for
police to search further, the court said in State v. McGacken,
A-4527-08.

Kucinich
Switches Vote on 'Health Care' 17 Mar 2010 Representative Dennis
J. Kucinich, Democrat of Ohio, said today that he plans to support the
health care insurance cartel bailout bill when it comes up for
a vote this week. He becomes the first Democrat to publicly disclose his
intention to switch from a no to a yes vote on the legislation... Mr.
Kucinich said he was "quite aware of the historic fight" underway
and decided to drop his opposition that the bill did not go far enough.
He said, "I believe health care is a civil right."

NYT
Reporter Confirms Obama Made Deal to Kill Public Option By Miles
Mogulescu 16 Mar 2010 On Monday, Ed Shultz interviewed New York Times
Washington reporter David Kirkpatrick on his MSNBC TV show, and Kirkpatrick
confirmed the existence of the deal. Shultz quoted Chip Kahn, chief lobbyist
for the for-profit hospital industry on Kahn's confidence that the White
House would honor the no
public option deal, and Kirkpatrick responded: "That's a lobbyist
for the hospital industry and he's talking about thehospital
industry's specific deal with the White House and the Senate Finance Committee
and, yeah, I think the hospital industry's got a deal here. There really
were only two deals, meaning quid pro quo handshake deals on both sides,
one with the hospitals and the other with the drug industry. And I think
what you're interested in is that in the background of these deals was
the presumption, shared on behalf of the lobbyists on the one side and
the White House on the other, that the public
option was not going to be in the final product." Kirkpatrick
also acknowledged that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina had
confirmed the existence of the deal to him.

States'
Rights Is Rallying Cry for Lawmakers 16 Mar 2010 Whether it’s
correctly called a movement, a backlash or political theater, state declarations
of their rights -- or in some cases denunciations of federal authority,
amounting to the same thing -- are on a roll. Gov. Mike Rounds of South
Dakota, a Republican, signed a bill into law on Friday declaring that
the federal regulation of firearms is invalid if a weapon is made and
used in South Dakota... Some legal scholars say the new states’ rights
drive has more smoke than fire, but for lawmakers, just taking a stand
can be important enough.

Most
power plants still spewing toxic mercury, report says
17 Mar 1010 Many of America's coal-fired power plants lack widely available
pollution controls for the highly toxic metal mercury, and mercury emissions
recently increased at more than half of the country's 50 largest mercury-emitting
power plants, according to a report Wednesday. According to the nonpartisan
Environmental Integrity Project, five of the 10 plants with the highest
amount of mercury emitted are in Texas. Plants in Georgia, Missouri, Alabama,
Pennsylvania and Michigan also are in the top 10.

The
Biggest Dump in the World --As large as the USA [but not as dangerous],
the Great Pacific Waste Patch is the biggest dump in the world. It keeps
getting bigger, and could be poisoning us all. By Ed Cumming 16 Mar
2010 The world’s biggest rubbish dump keeps growing. The Great Pacific
Garbage Patch - or the Pacific Trash Vortex - is a floating monument to
our culture of waste, the final resting place of every forgotten carrier
bag, every discarded bottle and every piece of packaging blown away in
the wind. ...[S]ome claim it has doubled over the past decade, making
it now six times the size of the UK. Dr Simon Boxall, a physical oceanographer
at the National Oceanography Centre at the University of Southampton,
goes even further: "It’s the size of North America. But although
the patch itself is extremely large, it’s only one very clear representation
of the much bigger worldwide problem."

Save
the Virginia Big-Eared Bat
(PEER) 17 Mar 2010 The vast majority of a captive breeding population
of endangered Virginia big-eared bats have died due to mishandling
by the Smithsonian National Zoological Park’s Conservation and Research
Center, and the rest are in poor health. Citing its failure to follow
shelter, feeding and care protocols spelled out by bat experts, PEER
is calling for the immediate relocation of the few surviving bats
to a qualified sanctuary before they also expire.

Experts
Plead for Surviving Bats to Enter Rehab --Remaining
Ten Rare Big-Eared Bats Do Not Have to Die for Science 17 Mar
2010 Bat experts are desperately trying to persuade federal officials
to move the last ten bats from a disastrous captive breeding program into
rehabilitation so that they have a chance to recover, according to correspondence
released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
Only ten of the 40 healthy endangered Virginia big-eared bats collected
by the Smithsonian Institution’s Conservation and Research Center (CRC)
are still alive, although these ten are in poor health. "Those
bats have suffered enough and deserve a chance to live... For the sake
of those animals, just do the right thing one time, before it is too late."
--Amanda Lollar, Founder and President of Bat World Sanctuary, in 12
March 2010 email to Fish & Wildlife Service.

*****

Pentagon
spy network hired to 'track and kill' --A Pentagon official has been
accused of hiring a secret network of private contractors to spy on militants
in Afghanistan and Pakistan so they could be hunted and killed. 15
Mar 2010 The employee is said to have paid firms using former members
of the special forces and CIA under the cover of an innocuous government
scheme to gather tribal and cultural information. Their reports were
then passed to military and intelligence units so they could kill militants
and target insurgent camps, officials told The
New York Times. It was not clear if Michael D Furlong, the Pentagon
official at the centre of the accusations, had approval for the scheme
but officials said they had become alarmed he was running an off-the-books
spy agency. The network is alleged to have been blown when the CIA chief
in Kabul personally complained to the US Defence Department. [I am
*so sick* of these over-funded lying sacks of sh*t, terrorists and sociopaths
-- *and* their enablers. If they were *gone,* we could have HEALTH CARE
for all.]

'My
Jason Bournes:' US Mercenaries Hired to Track and Kill Suspected Militants
--The officials say they are not sure who condoned and supervised his
work. Roughly $15 million unaccounted for
14 Mar 2010 Under the cover of a benign government information-gathering
program, a Defense Department official set up a network of private
contractors mercenaries in Afghanistan and Pakistan to help track
and kill suspected militants, according to military officials and businessmen
in Afghanistan and the United States. The official, Michael D. Furlong,
hired contractors from private security companies that employed former
C.I.A. and Special Forces operatives. The mercenaries, in turn, gathered
intelligence on the whereabouts of suspected militants and the location
of insurgent camps, and the information was then
sent to military units and intelligence officials for possible lethal
action in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the officials said.

Facebook
feds go undercover: Report shows FBI, other agents dipping quietly into
social media --Document: U.S. agents are already logging on surreptitiously
to exchange messages with suspects, identify a target's friends or relatives
and browse private information such as postings, personal photographs
and video clips. 16 Mar 2010 U.S. law enforcement agents are following
the rest of the Internet world into popular social-networking services,
going undercover with false online profiles to communicate with suspects
and gather private information, according to an internal Justice Department
document that offers a tantalizing glimpse of issues related to privacy
and crime-fighting. Think you know who's behind that "friend" request?
Think again. Your new "friend" just might be the FBI.

Obama
threatens to veto intel bill if oversight is included
15 Mar 2010 President Obama will veto a major intelligence funding bill
unless lawmakers remove provisions that would toughen congressional oversight
of spy agencies and require more stringent congressional notification
of intelligence activities. At the top of the list are Senate provisions
that expand congressional notification requirements when the intelligence
community changes to covert actions. Obama also took aim at a section
in the bill that would give the Government Accountability Office the authority
to investigate the intelligence community.

'It concludes with a list of 13 items of intelligence that should be
gathered about WikiLeaks.' U.S.
Intelligence planned to destroy WikiLeaks
By Julian Assange 15 Mar 2010 This document (18 Mar 2008) is a classified
(SECRET/NOFORN) 32 page U.S. counterintelligence investigation into WikiLeaks.
"The possibility that current employees or moles within DoD or elsewhere
in the U.S. government are providing sensitive or classified information
to Wikileaks.org cannot be ruled out". It concocts a plan to fatally
marginalize the organization... The report provides further justification
by enumerating embarrassing stories broken by WikiLeaks--U.S. equipment
expenditure in Iraq, probable U.S. violations of the Chemical Warfare
Convention Treaty in Iraq, the battle over the Iraqi town of Fallujah
and human rights violations against detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Diego
Garcia bunker-busters meant to threaten Iran
15 Mar 2010 The Sunday Herald has reported
that hundreds of powerful US "bunker-buster" bombs are being shipped from
California to the British island of Diego Garcia. In January, the US government
signed a contract to transport 10 ammunition containers to the island,
the Scottish newspaper wrote on March 14. "The US is not publicizing the
scale of these preparations to deter Iran, tending to make confrontation
more likely," the Sunday Herald quoted Dan Plesch, the director
of the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at the University
of London, as saying.

GAO
blocks contract to Blackwater to train Afghan police
16 Mar 2010 Federal auditors on Monday put a stop to Army plans to award
a $1 billion training program for Afghan police officers to the company
terrorist group formerly known as Blackwater, concluding that other companies
were unfairly excluded from bidding on the job. The decision by the Government
Accountability Office leaves unclear who will oversee training of the
Afghan National Police, a 90,000-strong paramilitary force.

Final
destination Iran?14 Mar 2010 Hundreds of powerful US "bunker-buster"
bombs are being shipped from California to the British island of Diego
Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for a possible attack on Iran.
The Sunday Herald can reveal that the US government signed a contract
in January to transport 10 ammunition containers to the island. According
to a cargo manifest from the US navy, this included 387 "Blu"
bombs used for blasting hardened or underground structures. Experts say
that they are being put in place for an assault on Iran’s controversial
nuclear facilities. There has long been speculation that the US military
is preparing for such an attack, should diplomacy fail to persuade Iran
not to make nuclear weapons.

US
backs Israel on synagogue amid alleged rows 16 Mar 2010 Israel
has reopened a synagogue in East Jerusalem (al-Quds) in
a move backed by the US, igniting angry protests by Palestinians
in the holy city and elsewhere in the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu took pride in the reopening of the Hurva synagogue,
around 700 meters from the al-Aqsa Mosque in al-Qud's Old City, as part
of Israel's "heritage."

Anti-US
rally held in Afghanistan 15 Mar 2010 People in Afghanistan have
protested against the killing of civilians by the US-led forces. Protesters
took to the streets in the eastern province of Kunar on Monday to condemn
the killing of ten Afghan civilians by American troops. They also demanded
that the perpetrators of the attack be brought to trial.

One
dead in attack on US base in Kabul 15 Mar 2010 One person has
been killed in an early morning rocket attack on the largest US military
hub north of the Afghan capital of Kabul, NATO says. The US military did
not give details of the Monday attack on Bagram Air Field. It also did
not say whether the victim was from the military personnel or a civilian
at the base.

US
Predator crashes in Afghanistan [What a shame!] 15 Mar
2010 An American MQ-1 Predator drone has crashed on takeoff in southern
Afghanistan, the US Air Forces Central Command confirms. Early Monday
reports said the aircraft was not gunned down by a hostile fire. It was
also noted that the accident has left no casualties.

Roadside
mine kills 3 Afghan civilians 15 Mar 2010 A roadside mine has
killed at least three civilians and wounded three others in Afghanistan's
southern province of Ghazni. Police said on Monday that the civilians'
vehicle hit the mine while they were moving household goods. In a separate
incident, US-led forces announced that a rocket attack killed one person
on Bagram Air Field north of the capital city of Kabul.

Bomber
kills seven, injures 13 in Iraq 15 Mar 2010 A bomber has detonated
his explosives among a group of laborers in the western city of Fallujah,
killing seven people, police says. Thirteen people were also wounded in
the blast, which occurred at around 9:00 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Monday in
the city which is 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, AFP reported.

Heads
up!Norad
Flight Exercise Planned For Washington, D.C. 15 Mar 2010 North
American Aerospace Defense Command will conduct a three-day exercise,
Falcon Virgo 10-06, beginning Tuesday and ending Thursday in the skies
over the National Capital Region. There will be two flights per night
on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the first flight scheduled to take place
between midnight until 2 a.m.EDT and the second between 4-6 a.m. EDT.
There will be one flight on Thursday, which is scheduled between midnight
and 2 a.m. EDT.

'At
the time it was called a BW test or biological weapons test.' Book
Suggests CIA tested LSD On Subways
16 Mar 2010 It was always known that the CIA and the US federal government
has conducted experiments with LSD. Now comes word that the CIA may have
possibly staged LSD on New York City subways. In a book written by H.P.
Albarelli titled 'A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the
CIA’s Secret Cold War Experiments', declassified documents from the FBI
dated from August 25, 1950 unveiled an LSD test was done on the New York
City Subway system.

Police
investigate 'sudden accidental' death of Labour MP Ashok Kumar
15 Mar 2010 Police are investigating the sudden death of Ashok Kumar,
the Labour MP, whose body was found by officers at his home. The Indian-born
53-year-old, a former scientist, was single and had no underlying health
problems. Colleagues said that the death of the MP for Middlesbrough South
and East Cleveland had come as a "huge shock". Sources said
that there was no sign of a break in at his home and there appeared to
be no suspicious circumstances or third party involved.

'The
gun came from an unlikely place.'AP:
Pentagon gun was from Tenn. police 15 Mar 2010 Two guns used in
high-profile shootings this year at the Pentagon and a Las Vegas courthouse
both came from the same unlikely place: the police and court system of
Memphis, Tenn. Law enforcement officials told The Associated Press that
both guns were once seized in criminal cases in Memphis. The officials
described how the weapons made their separate ways from an evidence vault
to gun dealers and to the shooters.

Child
rape charge rocks TSA --Logan employee pats down air travelers at
scan stations 10 Mar 2010 A Transportation Security Agency worker
[Sean Shanahan] who pats down members of the flying public was charged
with multiple child sex crimes targeting an underage girl yesterday. The
bust outraged privacy and passenger advocates who say it justifies their
fears about Logan International Airport’s full-body scanner.

Promises,
promises: Is gov't more open with Obama? 16 Mar 2010 Federal agencies
haven't lived up to President Barack Obama's promise of a more open government,
increasing their use of legal exemptions to keep records secret during
his first year in office. An Associated Press review of Freedom of Information
Act reports filed by 17 major agencies found that the use of nearly every
one of the law's nine exemptions to withhold information from the public
rose in fiscal year 2009, which ended last October.

Tories
revive random roadside breath test --Critics fear racial profiling
11 Mar 2010 The Harper government appears ready to move ahead with imposing
random roadside breath testing, which a new federal discussion paper says
has produced "remarkable results" in catching drunk drivers in other countries.
The proposal has encountered skepticism, however, with civil liberties
proponents warning that the new legislation could give police the power
to detain drivers without reasonable grounds or suspicion. "The reality
is that it creates a bit of a police-state mentality in which an innocent
person can be subjected to a whole host of testings," said Edward
Prutschi, a Toronto criminal lawyer.

David
Cameron's rightwing 'allies' march in Riga to commemorate the SS --Row
over SS veterans' parade in Latvia puts the spotlight on Tory links to
eastern Europe's far right Nazi sympathisers 14 Mar 2010 In this ethnic
Russian suburb of the Latvian capital [Riga], there is disbelief at the
prospect of a commemoration to be held this Tuesday by veterans and supporters
of the Latvian Legion of the wartime SS. Natalija's uncle "was killed
by the fascists", she says, yet "still the Latvians allow a parade of
the SS of Adolf Hitler!" ...Ever since David Cameron pulled the Conservative
party out of the centre-right coalition in the European parliament to
align the Tories alongside rightwingers such as Latvia's Fatherland and
Freedom, which helps organise the SS event, an unexpected spotlight
has shone on this corner of eastern Europe.

Three
US Consulate associates gunned down in Mexico 14 Mar 2010 Unknown
gunmen have killed two Americans associated with the US Consulate General
in the Mexico's violence-ridden border city of Ciudad Juarez, the White
House says. According to a US National Security Council spokesman Mike
Hammer, the drive-by shooting incident on Saturday that took the lives
of an American Consulate employee and her husband, also resulted in the
killing of the husband of a Mexican consular employee.

Anti-Berlusconi
strike paralyzes Italy 12 Mar 2010 Italy has been hit by a nationwide
worker strike following a call by the country's largest trade union, which
has protested at Rome's economic and immigration policies. Called upon
by the Italian General Confederation of Labor (CGIL), various cities saw
workers bringing the public services to standstill for an entire day and
freezing the public transport networks for four hours, Reuters reported.

House
Budget Committee approves reconciliation bill
15 Mar 2010 A key House committee voted Monday to advance President Obama's
plan to overhaul the nation's health-care system bail out the US
insurance cartel, clearing the way for the House to vote on the measure
later this week. The House Budget Committee voted 21 to 16 to send the
health care legislation to the House Rules Committee. That panel is expected
to meet Thursday to draft new language for the reconciliation bill, compiling
a package of fixes corporate giveaways to the $875 billion measure
that passed the Senate on Christmas Eve.

SJ
bank manager accused of bilking elderly
11 Mar 2010 A former San Jose bank manager is accused of bilking his elderly
clients. Prosecutors say John Tran lost his job as head of Wells Fargo
Bank on Lincoln Avenue last year. After he was fired, Tran solicited several
ex-clients at their homes. He may have pocketed $900,000 in funds they
thought were being invested in long term accounts.

Comcast
Blocks the CLG Newsletter--Comcast has decided that its customers
should not receive the CLG Newsletter. 15 Mar 2010 Update,
Monday, 5:20 PM ET: Comcast unblocked CLG's webhoster on Monday
afternoon. Thank you to *all* CLG folks who worked on resolving this problem!
Comcast folks: please let us know if they stop again, or if you have any
other oddities w. your newsletter delivery: (contactus@legitgov.org).
The following individual at the Comcast Security Department was MOST HELPFUL.
He does not wish to share his name, but would welcome any positive feedback
at the following email address: csatech97 at gmail dot com. Please
feel free to drop him a note of thanks, as he went 'above and beyond'
in his efforts to solve the problem. We need such folks at Comcast! Again,
thanks every CLGer who contacted Comcast!

*****

Obama
backs national DNA database --President Obama backs DNA test in arrests
09 Mar 2010 President Barack Obama’s embrace of a national database to
store the DNA of people arrested but not necessarily convicted of a crime
is heartening to backers of the policy but disappointing to criminal-justice
reformers, who view it as an invasion of privacy. Others also worry the
practice would adversely affect minorities. In an interview aired Saturday
on "America’s Most Wanted," Obama
expressed strong agreement as host John Walsh extolled the virtues
of collecting DNA at the time of an arrest and putting it into a single,
national database.

Munawar
blames Blackwater for Lahore bombings 12 Mar 2010 Jamaat-e-Islami
Amir Syed Munawar Hasan Friday alleged that infamous US security firm
Blackwater was behind all terror attacks in Pakistan under the supervision
of Interior Minister Rehman Malik. The JI leader alleged that Karachi
target killing and Lahore bombings were carried out by Blackwater.
The Interior Minister was supervising all the
activities of Blackwater across the country, he said. Such
incidents, he said, would continue unless the interior minister was removed.
The Afghani soil is being used for 'proxy war', he said, adding the United
States now wants to use Afghanistan against Iran.

Another
blast in Pakistan: 14 killed in Swat14 Mar 2010 At least 14 people
were killed and 52 wounded when a suicide bomber targeted a security checkpost
in Pakistan’s Mingora town in restive Swat Valley on Saturday, a day after
twin blasts claimed 57 lives in Lahore. Three security personnel were
among those killed in the blast.

US
troops kill Iraqi reporter, her husband
13 Mar 2010 American forces occupying Iraq have
opened fire on a car in Baghdad, killing an Iraqi reporter and her husband,
a police official announces. Aseel al-Obeidi, the reporter of Dijla television,
an independent Baghdad station, was killed by the US troops on Wednesday
as she was travelling with her husband in the Tobchi neighborhood in western
Baghdad, AP reported on Thursday. Morgue officials said the bodies of
the couple were riddled with bullets.

US
soldier killed in central Iraq 14 Mar 2010 An American soldier
has been killed and two others have been wounded in an attack on a US
military base in central Iraq. The US military said in a Sunday statement
that the soldier, who was not named, was killed by indirect fire in a
mortar or rocket attack on a base in Diyala province.

'Basically,
we follow dirty money.' New
Fraud Cases Point to Lapses in Iraq Projects 13 Mar 2010 Investigators
looking into corruption involving reconstruction in Iraq say they have
opened more than 50 new cases in six months by scrutinizing large cash
transactions -- involving banks, land deals, loan payments, casinos and
even plastic surgery -- made by some of the Americans involved in the
nearly $150 billion program. Some
of the cases involve people who are suspected of having mailed tens of
thousands of dollars to themselves from Iraq, or of having stuffed the
money into duffel bags and suitcases when leaving the country, the federal
investigators said. In other cases, millions of dollars were moved through
wire transfers.

Poppies
Escape Marjah Offensive
(NPR) 14 Mar 2010 Afghanistan produces about 90 percent of the world's
supply of opium poppies, the plant used to make heroin. About half of
that supply comes from the Helmand province. Earlier efforts by NATO forces
to destroy the poppy crops were unsuccessful; when the Taliban came
back US invaded, so did the farmers' poppies. In the most recent offensive,
NATO took a mostly hands-off approach, leaving
the 'farmers' and their crops alone. [LOL! Of couse they
did. They're the foundation of the CIA's money pipeline. The
Taliban actually eradicated opium production in Afghanistan by the summer
of 2001. Guess who brought it back?]

Afghanistan
bans growing of poppies for opium
(CBC News) 04 Jul 2001 The United
Nations Drug Control Program says the world's biggest heroin producing
country, Afghanistan, has gone out of the drug business. A UNDCP report
to be released next month will say Afghanistan has completely eradicated
cultivation of the opium poppy, the plant producing the resin which is
refined into heroin. "We do not grow poppies and we will not grow them.
This is a Taliban edict and it must be obeyed," Sheikh Rashimi, leader
of the village of Spenghagbarga, told the CBC's Patrick Brown. Spenghagbarga
is just a dusty truck stop of a village. It used to be a way station on
the long journey from the poppy fields of Afghanistan to the heroin dealers
on the streets of Moscow, London, New York and Vancouver. Last year
Afghanistan produced almost 4,000 tonnes of opium. This
year's figure is zero. Bernard Frahi of the UN Drug Control
Program confirms those numbers.

Kandahar
rocked once again 14 Mar 2010 A powerful blast has left a Pakistani
construction worker killed and six of his compatriots wounded in Afghanistan's
southern city of Kandahar. The bomb hit a vehicle carrying CITA group,
a Pakistani construction firm, on a road close to Pakistan's consulate
in a district in the eastern part of the city early Sunday, a Press TV
correspondent reported.

Dozens
Killed as Blasts Rock an Afghan City 13 Mar 2010 At least four
strong explosions rocked Kandahar on Saturday evening, causing buildings
to collapse and killing dozens of people, according to Afghan and American
officials. Two of the attacks occurred near the city’s police headquarters
and the Kandahar prison. The other targets were still unclear three hours
after the explosions, officials said.

Afghan
family killed as special forces defy night raid ban 14 Mar 2010
The wife and son had been shot in the head, each with a single bullet.
The engineer had died from a shot to the chest. The precision of the killings,
coupled with his failure to find any bullet casings after the raid, led
Omar to believe that his cousin was murdered either by US special forces
or by an intelligence agency. The sole survivor was the couple’s younger
son, aged six, whose upper torso was riddled with puncture wounds from
grenade shrapnel... Last week General Stanley McChrystal, the commander
of Nato troops in Afghanistan, responded to President Hamid Karzai’s call
for a ban on night raids by publicly ordering his troops to curb their
use.

Canada
wanted Afghan prisoners tortured: lawyer 05 Mar 2010 Federal government
documents on Afghan detainees suggest that Canadian officials intended
some prisoners to be tortured in order to gather intelligence, according
to a legal expert. If the allegation is true, such actions would constitute
a war crime, said University of Ottawa law professor Amir Attaran,
who has been digging deep into the issue and told CBC News he has seen
uncensored versions of government documents released last year. "If these
documents were released [in full], what they will show is that Canada
partnered deliberately with the torturers in Afghanistan for the interrogation
of detainees," he said. "There would be a question of rendition and a
question of war crimes on the part of certain Canadian officials. That's
what's in these documents, and that's why the government is covering up
as hard as it can."

'The
U.S. government has been detaining an unknown number of prisoners at the
Bagram detention facility since 2002.' Bagram
FOIA11 Mar 2010 In April 2009, the ACLU filed a Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA) request for records relating to the detention and treatment
of prisoners held at the Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. The ACLU is asking
the Obama administration to make public records pertaining to the number
of people currently detained at Bagram, their names, citizenship, place
of capture and length of detention, as well as records pertaining to the
process afforded those prisoners to challenge their detention and designation
as "enemy combatants."

US
rights groups demand release of young Gitmo inmate 13 Mar 2010
Human Rights organizations have demanded that Washington drop military
charges against a Guantanamo Bay detainee captured by the Americans at
the age of 15. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Human Rights
Watch, and Juvenile Law Center organizations have issued a joint letter
to US Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates,
urging the release of Omar Khadr, a Canadian national arrested in Afghanistan
in 2002 for allegedly throwing a grenade at a US army officer.

Spain
predicts Israeli annexation of entire West Bank 13 Mar 2010 Madrid
has warned that, if continued at the current rate, the Israeli settlement
expansion in the occupied Palestinian lands would bring about the annexation
of the entire occupied territories. Spain's Foreign Minister Miguel Angel
Moratinos cautioned that the advancement would claim the entire Palestinian
territories in the West Bank, should the current rate of acquisition survive
for another two years, AFP reported on Saturday.

Did
the CIA test LSD in the New York City subway system? 14 Mar 2010
"For me, in countless ways the Olson story is a New York City story,"
said H.P. Albarelli Jr., a former lawyer in the Carter White House, who
has written extensively about biological warfare and intelligence matters.
"The CIA itself was created and initially composed of wealthy men
who came from Wall Street and New York City law firms." Frank Olson
was a research scientist assigned to the CIA’s Special Operations Division,
at Ft. Detrick, Md., who was performing top secret research relating to
LSD-25, a powerful new drug... Albarelli spent more than a decade sifting
through more than 100,000 pages of government documents and his most startling
chestnut might be his claim that the
intelligence community conducted aerosol tests of LSD inside the New York
City subway system. [Well, this was startling, too: CIA
may have poisoned entire French village 12 Mar 2010.]

US
planning big false flag and Internet shut down to stop 'al-Qaeda:'Al-Qaeda
Suspect From NJ Worked At 6 Nuke Plants --Mobley had 'vital access'
that allowed him into any area of the plants where he worked in New Jersey.
13 Mar 2010 An American seized in Yemen in a sweep of suspected 'al-Qaida'
members had been a laborer at six U.S. nuclear power plants, and authorities
are investigating whether he had access to sensitive information or materials
that would be useful to terrorists. Sharif Mobley worked for contractors
at plants in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland from 2002 to 2008,
mostly hauling materials and setting up scaffolding, plant officials said.

'He's been a matter of some concern for a while.'U.S.
citizen accused in Yemen killing had been under FBI watch -- Several
U.S. officials said Mobley had been known to U.S. and Yemeni authorities
13 Mar 2010 Sharif Mobley, a U.S. citizen accused of killing a hospital
guard in Yemen, is believed to be a homegrown radical who left this country
to make direct contact with al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh], according to U.S. counterterrorism
officials, making him the latest in a string of such suspects.

Four
Released in Ireland Terror Case
14 Mar 2010 Irish police said on Saturday evening they have released all
three women who were among seven individuals arrested earlier this week
in connection with an alleged plot to murder a Swedish cartoonist. They
were released and not charged, police said. Those releases appear to indicate
that U.S. national Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, a 31-year-old mother and recent
convert to Islam believed to be among the seven initially arrested, is
no longer in the custody of the Irish police.

Paperless
boarding passes for United take flight at DIA --Travelers still must
show government-issued identification to TSA screeners operating the electronic
boarding-pass readers. 12 Mar 2010 United Airlines and the Transportation
Security Administration launched a program at Denver International Airport
on Thursday that will allow many air travelers to download boarding passes
to their smart phones and avoid the need for printed ones. United's installation
of boarding-pass readers for mobile phones at DIA's three security checkpoints
means Denver airline passengers can take advantage of the time-saving
technology for the first time.

The
New Rove-Cheney Assault on Reality
By Frank Rich 14 Mar 2010 In this spectrum, the Keep America Safe crowd
is a fringe. But it still must be challenged. As we’ve learned the hard
way, little fictions, whether about "death panels" or "uranium
from Africa," can grow mighty fast in the 24/7 media echo chamber.
Liz Cheney’s unsupportable charges are not quarantined in the Murdoch
empire. Her chummy off-camera relationship with a trio of network news
stars, reported last week by Joe Hagan in New York magazine, helps explain
her rise in the so-called mainstream media.

Blair
courts controversial US pastor Rick Warren in bid to unite faiths
--Former prime minister builds network of Christian allies as he prepares
to launch a religious 'offensive' in North America 13 Mar 2010 Tony
Blair is preparing to launch a "faith offensive" across the United States
over the next year, after building up relationships with a network of
influential religious leaders and faith organisations. With Afghanistan
and Iraq casting a shadow over his popularity at home in Britain, Blair's
focus has increasingly shifted across the Atlantic, to where the nexus
of faith and power is immutable and he is feted like a rock star. [No,
the little f*ck is hated here, too.]

Justice's
wife launches 'tea party' group --The nonprofit [?] run by Virginia
Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is likely to test
notions of political impartiality for the court. 14 Mar 2010 Virginia
Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has launched
a tea-party-linked group that could test the traditional notions of political
impartiality for the court. In January, Virginia Thomas created Liberty
Central Inc., a nonprofit lobbying group whose website will organize activism
around a set of conservative "core principles," she said. The group plans
to issue score cards for Congress members and be involved in the November
election, although Thomas would not specify how. She said it would
accept donations from various sources -- including
corporations -- as allowed under campaign finance rules recently
loosened by the Supreme Court.

Satire:Texas
Legislature Votes to Rewrite Bible By R J Shulman 14 Mar 2010
Fresh from their recent success in passing laws to rewrite school history
textbooks to drop discussions of FDR and unions in favor of what they
called conservative intellectuals such as George W. Bush, Sarah Palin
and Joe the Plumber, the Texas Legislature passed a law that all Bibles
in the state must be updated... The newly approved Bible, 'Bible: King
James Dobson Version,' named after the founder of the popular Focus on
the Family broadcasts, also adds the following passages: Anyone voting
for Democrats must be stoned to death, global warming is Satan's favorite
lie, greediness is next to godliness, people who don't speak English should
be banished from the kingdom, and that slavery is not so bad if it can
keep those people off the streets.

Obama
proposes 'No Child' overhaul [Oh great. Now *every* child will
be left behind.] President Obama proposed overhauling the No Child
Left Behind law that was his predecessor's hallmark education initiative
lunacy, aiming to eliminate several of the measure's controversial mandates
on public schools but adding new ones. Students would still be tested
every year in reading and math under Obama's proposal, but scores in other
subjects could also be used to measure 'progress,' addressing concerns
of parents and teachers who say the law has shortchanged such topics as
history and science.

The
Democrats' scam becomes more transparent By Glenn Greenwald 12
Mar 2010 The one last hope for Senate Democratic leaders was to avoid
a vote altogether on the public option, thereby relieving Senators of
having to take a position and being exposed. But that trick would require
the cooperation of all Senators -- any one Senator can introduce a public
option amendment during the reconciliation and force a vote -- and it
now seems that Bernie Sanders, to his great credit, is
refusing to go along with the Democrats' sham and will do exactly
that: ignore the wishes of the Senate leadership and force a roll call
vote on the public option. So now what is to be done? They only need 50
votes, so they can't use the filibuster excuse... And it seems there aren't
enough Senate Democrats willing to vote against the public option after
publicly saying all year long they supported it, which means it might
get 50 votes if a roll call vote is held. So what is the Senate Democratic
leadership now doing? They're
whipping against the public option, which they pretended all year
along to so vigorously support.

States
may hold onto tax refunds for months 12 Mar 2010 Residents eager
to get their state tax refunds may have a long wait this year: The recession
has tied up cash and caused officials in half a dozen states to consider
freezing refunds, in one case for as long as five months. States from
New York to Hawaii that have been hard-hit by the economic downturn say
they have either delayed refunds or are considering doing so because of
budget shortfalls.